


never think about the consequence

by seaunicorn



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, Outer Space, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21667024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seaunicorn/pseuds/seaunicorn
Summary: Emma Nolan is the captain of a spaceship, and Alyssa Greene is the hostage that somehow weasels her way onto Emma’s crew.Space Pirates AU
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 50
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Very very very loosely based on the premise from the show Firefly but with more lesbians and less cultural appropriation.
> 
> Also I couldn’t be bothered to learn the planets of any canon universe that already exists so I just pulled a solar system out of my ass. Enjoy!

Looking out the glass observatory window of her ship, the Beatrice, was something Emma Nolan would never grow tired of. Seeing all the stars scattered above her, far off galaxies, solar systems she might be lucky enough to explore one day. It made her feel so small and insignificant, but at the same time she saw just how the universe was truly full of infinite possibilities. Emma always made sure to be the first one ready for a mission so she would have a chance to sit in the common area, gaze out at the stars through the glass, and take a moment to decompress before everything went wrong, as usual.

Emma took a deep, calming breath, and as she exhaled, all the interior lights of the ship shut off with a powerful spark and a yelp from down below. She frowned.

Well, that didn’t last long.

“Greg, what was that?” she called out to her first mate.

Greg Nolan was Emma’s cousin, best friend, and most trusted ally. He was the obvious choice for her first mate. Also their grandmother had technically given the ship to both of them, so she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. He ran through the common area toward the hallway. “Uhh, let me check!” Emma stood from where she sat on the sofa and followed him out. She watched as he shouted down the hatch that led to the engine room, trying to be heard over a drilling sound that was only slightly concerning. “KLEIN! What the hell was that?!”

The drilling suddenly stopped and there was a loud clatter as something metal fell to the floor. After a moment, the voice of their brilliant engineer, Kaylee piped up. “I was trying to modify the thrusters by bypassing the acceleration module, but I accidentally rewired—”

“I don’t care, just fix it!”

Emma frowned at him. “Be nice,” she muttered, then raised her voice. “Kaylee, you know I love your… improvements,” she called out. “Just try to save the risky stuff for when we’re not about to go steal something. Can you get the lights back on please?”

“Anything for you, Cap!”

The drilling resumed and for a moment, Emma hoped that everything would be fine. Then she heard the angry shouting coming from the cockpit.

“I never get a fucking break,” Emma groaned and trudged to the head of the ship, where she found Shelby and Kevin in a heated argument.

“I’m telling you, Shelb, we should enter the atmosphere at quadrant six point two! I did these calculations myself!”

“And I’m telling you,  _ Kev,  _ I’m the fucking pilot and we’re entering at quadrant seven!”

“Six point two is a faster point of entry and—”

“Children!” Emma interrupted, vastly annoyed. Kevin immediately shut his mouth, and two heads snapped in Emma’s direction, innocent looks on their guilty faces.

“There’s no problem, Em, Kevin was just trying to mansplain my job to me.”

“I was not mansplain—”

“Kevin, do I pay you to fly this ship?” Emma asked. Kevin shook his head. “Who do I pay to fly this ship?”

Kevin murmured something quiet that was barely audible.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Shelby.”

“Okay. Please let her do her job.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Shelby stuck her tongue out at Kevin. He looked like a kicked puppy and Emma almost felt bad for scolding him. He was a smart guy, after all. She pulled him aside. “You may have figured out the fastest entry, but this is a stealth mission, Kev. Quadrant seven will cause the least disturbance in the atmosphere. If we need a quick exit we’ll use six point two. Okay?”

Kevin’s face lit up like a child who had just been presented with a candy bar. “Okay,” he said, grinning as he ran off out of the cockpit

“Let’s hope we don’t need it!” Emma called out after him, shaking her head. She sighed. “You lot,” she muttered. “You’re worse than children. You’re like corralling goats.”

“You love us,” Shelby quipped.

“Yeah, yeah,” Emma dismissed quickly, but Shelby was right. As much as everyone was a pain in her ass and as much as she complained about them, Emma wouldn’t trade her crew for anything in the universe.

“Cap, we’re about to enter Carmuun’s atmosphere.”

“Perfect. As soon as you touch down, meeting in the—”

“Meeting in the cargo hold, yeah, I know the drill.”

The Beatrice lurched as it impacted with the atmosphere. Emma braced herself on the walls as she made her way out of the cockpit, through the still dark hallway, and climbed down the ladder and the stairs that led to the cargo hold. Kevin and Greg were already there, sitting on wooden crates and bracing the walls to keep themselves from sliding across the floor as the ship rocked violently.

Suddenly, the lights flickered once, twice, until they stayed on.

“Thank you, Kaylee!” Emma called out. Finally, something good.

Kaylee appeared from the engine room and climbed down the stairs into the cargo hold. She wore a grease stained white tank top and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. She coughed a few times, pulling the dirty gloves off of her hands. “Sorry, again,” Kaylee said as she hopped down, skipping the last few steps. “Bright side, I now know which wires control the interior lighting.”

The ship rumbled as it slowed on its descent, and the whole crew grabbed a wall, a rail, a box, or something they could hold onto as it touched down on the ground and slowly screeched to a halt. Shelby was a phenomenal pilot but was infamous amongst the crew for her rough landings. The ship stilled and everyone waited in silence for a moment.

Finally, Shelby dropped down from the latch and climbed down the stairs into the cargo hold to join everyone else. She rubbed her hands together, a bright grin on her face. “Smooth landing, huh?”

Everyone made some sort of vague, noncommittal noise, hoping she wouldn’t question them any further about just how smooth her landings were.

“Okay,” Emma started. “Now that we’re all here, we can go over the plan one last…” She scanned the faces. Someone was missing. “God damn it, where the hell is Nick?!” Everyone shrugged. Emma stormed over to the ship’s comm system that she didn’t like to use, but sometimes with Nick Boomer, it was a necessity. “BOOMER, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!” Emma’s voice echoed through the ship.

There was a moment of silence. Then, the sound of distant footsteps grew closer and closer until  _ finally _ the last member of their crew dropped into the cargo hold, hastily pulling on a t-shirt as he walked down the stairs.

“What’s up, Cap?” he yawned.

“We have a mission. Were you  _ asleep?!” _

“No?” Nick was a bad liar.

Emma suppressed the frustrated groan she wanted to let out and instead took a deep, calming breath. “Okay.  _ Now _ that everyone’s here, we can go over the plan one last time. Just in case anyone had forgotten,” she sent a pointed look in Nick’s direction, “we’re hitting the Greene Estate on Carmuun today. Veronica Greene is the ambassador of Carmuun and she is a piece of work. She taxes relentlessly just to line her own pockets and everyone works to the bone just to pay them. The place is full of riots and a lot of unhappy citizens. If we take her money, she’s just going to tax them even more, so we’re going after something a little more valuable. What would that be, Nick?”

Nick blinked in confusion. “Um… her pride?”

Emma’s hand itched to facepalm, but she clenched her fists and held it back. “No,” she sighed. “Not her pride.” Kevin raised his hand. “Yes, Kevin?”

“Her diamonds.”

“That is correct,” Emma said. “Carmuun’s main export is coal. We can’t touch that otherwise it would affect the livelihood of everyone who lives there. But Greene has a private diamond mine on her own property, and the workers don’t get to see a lick of profit from it. We’re stealing all the diamonds she currently has and destroying the mine. Because it’s her personal property, she’ll have to pay for it herself if she wants it fixed. Team one, what is our mission?”

Greg stood up. “Emma and I are breaking into the safe in the Greene Estate with the help of Kev’s EMP and cleaning it out of all her diamonds.”

Emma nodded. “Perfect. Kevin would you please explain the EMP you designed?”

“Yes ma’am,” Kevin stood up and saluted. Emma rolled her eyes, but smiled. “This baby will take out everything within its radius. It starts a reboot but keeps anything electronic stalled as it powers up, so it seems like devices are still on to anyone checking in. Perfect for taking out security cameras and alarm systems.”

“Thank you, Kevin. Team two?”

“Or as I like to call it the BOOM SQUAD!” Nick exclaimed.

“I regret ever calling it that,” Emma said with a frown.

“Yeah, that was pretty dumb,” Shelby said.

“In my defense, I was drunk and didn’t realize Boomer would run with it.”

“Again, pretty dumb.”

_ “Shelby…” _ Emma threatened. Shelby threw her hands up in innocence. “Nick, please continue.”

“Kaylee’s got some sick demolition gear she’ll set up down at the diamond mine and we’re gonna make that shit blow,” Nick sang.

“Please, for the love of god, make sure nobody is inside before you blow it up this time,” Emma said, almost exasperated. “I really shouldn’t have to say that.  _ Please.  _ Do not blow anyone up. We don’t want a repeat of what happened on Dullhan.”

“You idiots are lucky no one died,” Shelby muttered absently.

“Shelb, please let me do the lecturing.”

“Aye aye, Cap.”

“Don’t say that.” Emma shook her head and glared at Shelby. “Whatever. Boom squad. Team two. Wait until all of us are clear of the estate and then blow the mines.  _ Do not blow them early. _ Got it?”

Kaylee nodded, but Nick had to go and open his mouth. “That only happened because Kaylee distracted me—“

_ “Nick!” _ Kaylee cut him off with a sharp hiss. Shelby burst into laughter. Emma was just thankful every day that Kaylee and Nick had broken up two months ago and were no longer in a relationship.

Emma rubbed her temple and sighed, “Team three?”

Shelby and Kevin replied in unison monotone, “Stay on the ship.”

“Well that’s not exactly how I’d—”

“Yes it is.”

Emma sighed. “I don’t have the energy to argue with you right now. Kevin, you’re our eyes and ears in there. And Shelby, please just keep Betsy ready if we need to get out quick.”

“We usually need to get out quick,” Shelby said.

“Only like… half the time. Just be ready to do your job, Gonzales.” Emma let out a long sigh. God, sometimes they were worse than goats. What’s worse than corralling goats? Monkeys, maybe. Working with her crew was like corralling monkeys. “Any other questions?” She looked around at the crew. “No? Good. Let’s move out.”

Greg pressed the button that opened the door to the cargo hold. The large door shifted and loudly fell open. One by one, they stepped out onto the new planet, surrounded by the cover of night. Emma had never actually been to Carmuun before, but it was beautiful, covered in trees and mountains, and it had two moons. Shelby had only knocked into a few trees with her landing, so the rest of the tall trunks towered over them.

Shelby landed them in a large clearing between the trees, not too far from the Greene Estate.The Beatrice was a moderately sized ship, so the trees provided an excellent cover so they didn’t have to waste energy keeping their cloaking on the whole time. They could even see the lights of the city in the distance.

Kaylee, still on the ship, flipped a switch next to the button to open the cargo door. There was a mechanical whirring, and where the ship’s name on the outside read The Beatrice in beautiful cursive, the panel popped out and flipped over to read The Benedick. It was a little disguise she had fashioned that they used when they were doing some of their less than savory work to not draw attention to themselves.

Emma turned back to Kevin and Shelby. “Take care of her for me?” She nodded toward the ship.

“We always do,” Kevin said. With a firm nod, Emma turned around and headed for the trees.

Getting onto the Greene Estate was easy enough. Their property expanded for acres and acres, and though they had security, it was hard for them to keep track of the whole grounds at once. There were no security cameras along the gate except for at the entrance, so once the patrol had passed, the group easily scaled over some of the side walls, wearing gloves to avoid the sharp wire at the top.

Once they had all landed on the other side of the fence, Emma turned to team two. “You remember the plan?”

“Of  _ course _ we remember the plan,” Nick exclaimed, all bravado but no substance. Emma frowned and turned to Kaylee, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Kaylee reassured her.

“I’m counting on you, Klein.”

Nick pouted, but once Emma was confident they would be fine, they parted ways; she and Greg made their way up toward the estate while Kaylee and Nick went behind, toward the mine.

Emma was, once again, extremely thankful to have Kevin on her crew; he had hacked into the architect’s drive last week to find the blueprints of the house, and once they reached the outskirts of the house, Kevin was ready to provide instructions in their ear over commas.

Security at the house was thick, but Kevin had also hacked into the security feeds, so he was able to help them avoid any unwanted encounters.

_ “Back around that corner,” _ Kevin said. Emma followed his instruction, hiding behind the garden wall, and stood still. Greg was right behind her, holding his breath.  _ “Hold. Just a few more seconds… and go!” _

Emma peered around the corner to see a pair of guards with their backs to them, walking away from them. Emma and Greg set off in the opposite direction, towards the building.

_ “Remember, wait until you’re inside to activate the EMP. You’ll just have to avoid the outdoor cameras.” _

“What’s our way in?” Emma asked.

_ “Dog door.” _

“Dog— are you fucking serious, Kevin?” Emma and Greg rounded to the back corner of the house where they saw a sliding glass door that probably had a million cameras trained on it. About twenty feet further down, though, was a large dog door. They headed toward it.

_ “With the dimensions of the door I think it’s a bigger dog so you should be able to fit, and he’s got a chip on his collar that unlocks it when he goes in and out, so they don’t have a camera on that entrance. Lucky for you, I hacked into that as well and it should be unlocked… now.” _

Emma rolled her eyes, but without fail, she heard a soft click coming from the dog door. She approached it and pushed in cautiously. The door slid open for her. “You’re the best, Kev,” she said, then got to her hands and knees and crawled inside. Greg followed close behind her.

Once they were inside, they made sure to hug the wall to avoid any eyes that may have been looking for intruders. Greg held up the device in his hand. “Setting off the EMP in three, two…” And when he pushed the button, there was a quiet whizzing noise. Emma kept her eyes on the security camera in the corner. The red power light blinked, then shut off for a couple seconds before turning back on.

“Did it work?” she whispered.

_ “Yes,” _ Kevin said. _ “Security feeds are down until you push that little button again or until someone catches on. I’m blind up here now, so you’re on your own.” _

“It’s fine, we’ve done this before,” Emma said with a confident shrug. “How are we getting to the basement study?”

“There should be a small door to your left.” Emma located the ‘small door’ he was talking about that was more like some sort of maintenance hatch, a little bigger than the dog door, and opened it, only for a mephitic odor to waft into her face. “Oh, god, what is this?”

_ “Garbage chute.” _

“This isn’t Star Wars, Kev,” Emma frowned.

_ “That’s your only way down! Everywhere else is blocked off with security!”  _ Kevin defended. _ “Don’t worry, I turned off the incinerator.” _

“I’m sorry, the what now?”

_ “Just get in! We don’t have all day.” _

Emma grumbled, but held the door open for Greg. “After you.”

He glared at her. “Just because you’re the captain doesn’t mean you can make me do everything first when you don’t want to.”

“That’s exactly what it means.”

“I’m telling Gran.”

“Just get in the damn chute, Greg.”

Reluctantly, Greg made a show of plugging his nose and holding his breath as he climbed inside and slowly slid down the narrow passage. Emma was right behind him, holding her breath as even the slightest whiff of trash made her gag. They edged their way down and landed in a half charred pile of garbage. It was pitch black in there. Emma blinked, her eyes slow to adjust to the light, and could barely make out Greg in the room next to her.

_ “There should be a hatch to get out along the wall,” _ Kevin said in her ear.

Emma motioned to Greg and the two made their way along the wall, feeling for the hatch.

“Over here!” Greg called out after a moment, and as he opened it with a creak, a light began to pool inside through the small opening. “This is tiny.”

“We fit through the dog door, we can fit through this.” Emma pushed him out of the way and squeezed her way out of there, coughing. “Fuck, I’m gonna need a shower after this.”

_ “Okay, the door in front of you should take you out to the rest of the basement. Her office is in the northeast corner. I think that’s all I can do for you now, but let me know when you’ve got the goods and are heading out.” _

“Thanks, Kev.”

With no more help from Kevin as their eyes and ears, Emma and Greg crept out of the maintenance room and through the door. The basement was quiet and empty as they stalked down the halls. Everything down here appeared very industrial and secure. Emma was certain that there would be countless cameras and alarms down here, so she was very grateful for the EMP clearing them a path. All they had to do was make sure they didn’t step too loudly or draw any attention and break into the safe.

Finally, they found the door to Veronica Greene’s study. Emma picked the lock with ease. She opened the door for Greg and slipped inside after him, closing the door behind them.

The room was ovular, with shelves lining all the walls. Emma and Greg inspected every inch of the room for her safe to no avail. “I thought you said it was in here, Kevin.”

_ “It should be!” _

“Well we’re not seeing anything.” She leaned against the wood of the desk while Greg got on his hands and knees, climbing underneath to inspect further. Suddenly there was a click and Greg let out a soft whoop.

“Found it,” he said. Emma leapt to the other side of the desk and peered underneath to see Greg removing a square section of wood floorboards, revealing a safe sitting underneath. “False floor under her desk. Just give me a few minutes to crack and we’re set.”

“Please, take all the time you need,” Emma said, sarcastic.

“Hey,” Greg frowned. “Safe cracking is a delicate art form and I would  _ appreciate _ some understanding.”

“Yeah, yeah, just hurry up before we…” The sound of the study door closing again caught Emma’s attention. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed her pistol from her side and spun around, aiming it at the intruder. “Shit.”

The woman had dark, curly hair that fell down her shoulders. Her eyes had a picaresque glint that caught Emma’s curiosity. Despite the amused smirk on her lips, she immediately held her hands up when Emma pointed a gun at her.

“You folks lost?” she asked.

“Don’t move,” Emma threatened.

“I wasn’t moving.”

“Your mouth is moving.” The woman rolled her eyes. “Give me one good reason to not put a bullet in your head right now.”

“I thought you just told me to stop talking.” Emma cocked her gun with a glare. The woman sighed and studied Emma for a moment, pursing her lips. Eventually, she smiled. “You wouldn’t kill me.”

Well, shit.

The girl was right, but Emma didn’t want her to know that. And to be fair, this was the first time anyone had ever caught them face to face in the middle of a robbery. She had no clue what to do. Emma gripped her gun in both hands and took a minacious step forward. “Don’t test me.” She called over her shoulder, “Greg, how’s it coming?”

“One more number.”

Emma addressed the woman again. “What are you doing here?”

She just shrugged. “I live here. I can’t wander my own home?”

“It’s open!” Greg called out.

“Clean her out.” Emma took another step toward the woman. “How did you know we were here? Why didn’t you call the guards?”

“That’s a lot of questions that I’m not sure I have the time to answer.”

“Em,” Greg called from beneath the desk. “I’m almost done, figure something out.”

“We can’t let her go, she’s just going to sound the alarm and we’ll be tailed halfway across the Ogma Cluster!”

The woman cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “You know what might also be worth a hefty sum? Not as much as diamonds, of course, but still a pretty penny.”

Emma raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“Ransom for, say, the daughter of Veronica Greene.”

Emma balked at her. What the hell was this girl doing? “You’re her daughter?” she scoffed.

“Alyssa Greene, nice to meet you,” she brought a hand down to offer a handshake, but Emma did not relent with her gun, so she quickly resumed her hands up position.

Finally, Greg stood up, bags full of diamonds. He looked at Emma, who was lost in thought. “You can’t possibly be considering this.”

“What other choice do we have? She knows our faces!”

“This is a  _ terrible _ idea!”

Emma groaned. Fuck, she hated making decisions. Why did she think being the captain was a good idea? “Fuck it,” she said, finally. “Greg, do you have any zip ties?”

“Are you  _ crazy?!  _ We can’t kidnap someone!”

“Shut up and get her wrists tied!”

Greg glared at her and rummaged through his bag. Emma kept her gun trained on Alyssa, who was surprisingly blase about the whole situation. It was… curious.

As Greg tied up her wrists, he grumbled, “This is by far the worst idea you’ve ever—”

His thought was cut off when the sound of a distant explosion shook the room. “Fucking Boomer,” Emma muttered under her breath.

Alyssa looked around. “What was that?”

“That was our sign to get the fuck out of here.” Emma spoke into her comms again. “Kev, the explosion went off early. Expect some trouble.”

_ “Roger that, cap.” _

Once Greg had Alyssa’s wrists bound together, he eased the door open and peeked outside. “Okay, coast is clear,” he whispered, throwing the door open. “Now that they know something’s up should we just take the stairs?”

“No, we shouldn’t take the fucking stairs,” Emma hissed. “As far as they know, no one is in the house. We are going back the way we came.”

Greg nodded and stepped outside. Emma walked further, but Alyssa was standing still, unmoving. She pointed her gun out the door. “After you, Greene.”

“What a gentleman,” Alyssa quipped, then followed Greg out the door.

As they returned to the maintenance hall and opened the hatch to the trash chute, Alyssa raised an eyebrow. “This is how you got in? Seriously?”

“Just get in,” Emma sighed. All she wanted was for this mission to be over.

_ “Bad news,”  _ Kevin’s voice buzzed in her ear.  _ “They’ve rebooted their systems and are trying to drive me out. I won’t be able to support you much longer.” _

“Fuck,” Emma said as she climbed into the garbage heap. “Greg, we gotta move.”

“I heard.”

“Who are you talking to?” Alyssa asked.

“Wow, I am really regretting bringing you along already.”

“Technically you kidnapped me.”

“Just climb, please.”

The slope of the garbage chute wasn’t too steep, so it was easy enough to retrace their steps and climb back up to the first floor landing. Greg took the lead, and Emma followed behind the rear with their… hostage sandwiched between them.

As they climbed up, Kevin’s voice buzzed in her ear again.  _ “Shit.” _

“That doesn’t sound good.”

_ “They kicked me out. Dog door’s locked, cameras are almost back up and running.” _

“Any chance you can move a little faster up there?” Emma called out to Greg.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“How long until the interior cameras are back up?”

_ “Thirty seconds, tops. _

Finally, their ascent slowed as Greg climbed out of the garbage chute, then Alyssa, followed by Emma. “Okay. Dog door is locked. We can’t go to the back door because the exterior cams are still up. Think, think…”

As Emma paced back and forth, she didn’t notice as Alyssa brought her fingers up to her mouth and whistled sharply. Immediately, Emma lunged for her and pulled her arms down.

“What the  _ hell _ do you think you’re doing?” Emma spat with a steely glare.

“Getting you out of here,” Alyssa shrugged. A moment later, a large, menacing looking rottweiler with a chain collar trotted into the room, wagging its stubby tail at Alyssa. “Hey Levi,” she said softly, patting the dog on the head and scratching behind his ears. “Do you want to go outside?”

Levi licked her hand, then ran past and through the dog door. As he went through the door, Greg quickly caught it with his foot and held it open. “Nice one,” he muttered, and crawled through.

“Levi? Is he supposed to be your guard dog?” Emma asked, looking curiously at Alyssa as she struggled to shimmy through the dog door with her front hands still tied.

“It’s short for Leviticus,” she said with a disdainful sigh. “That was my mom’s original intention when she bought him, but he’s just a softie. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Emma crawled outside after her and Leviticus was nowhere in sight, already run off to play somewhere. She furrowed her brow at the woman in front of her. Alyssa Greene had found people breaking into her house and thus far she had offered herself as a hostage and helped them to escape. But why? Emma studied her curiously, but couldn’t get a read on the woman or her intentions. As Greg headed toward the gardens and Alyssa turned to follow him, Emma caught her by the arm. “Why are you helping us?” she asked.

Alyssa’s mouth quivered into a slight frown, and as she opened her mouth to reply, a distant voice called out, “OVER THERE! BY THE GARDEN!”

Emma spun around and saw two guards that had spotted them. “Shit.”

“THEY’VE GOT THE DAUGHTER!”

Emma pushed Alyssa forward and the two began running to catch up with Greg and make their way out of there.

It was easy enough to lose the guards under the cover of the garden, through the bushes and hedges, but their heavy footsteps and shouting could still be heard not too far behind. They had to keep moving.

Once they could see the exterior fence in the distance, Emma also spotted two familiar figures at the base of it. Nick’s skin was stained dark and some of his clothes were a little charred; he must have gotten caught in a bit of the explosion. He boosted Kaylee up over the fence just as they arrived.

“Boomer, what the hell was that?!” Emma scolded him.

“Can we do this later?” Greg said. “We’ve still got company.”

As if on cue, the guards appeared behind them. “Fuck. Let’s move.” Greg went next, followed by Alyssa, and then Nick. Once Emma made sure her crew (and their hostage) were safely over, she scrambled up herself.

That was when the guards started shooting at her.

It wasn’t normal bullets they shot, Emma noticed out of the corner of her eye, and they didn’t sound the same either. It looked like blasts of laser energy as far as she could tell. She ducked her head out of the way and some of her hair singed off. As she climbed and gripped the top of the fence, one of the blasts hit her hand. Her glove took most of the impact, but it burned through the fabric until it reached her knuckles, causing her grip to falter. Her hand slipped and she dangled off the top of the gate for a moment.

“Emma!” Greg called.

“I’m fine,” Emma groaned, as she hoisted herself over the fence with one arm, pushing off with her feet, then dropped to the ground next to them.

Nick stared at the party of three, confused. “I swear there was one less of you earlier.”

“Emma decided to take a hostage,” Greg offered freely.

Alyssa waved awkwardly with her zip tied hands. “Hi.”

“I’m sorry, you did  _ what?!” _

The quiet fire of laser blasts shooting past them kicked Emma into action again.

“We will talk about it  _ on the damn ship!” _ she grumbled, pushing everyone to take off running again. “Let’s move, people!” Everyone sprinted away just as the guards were beginning to climb over the fence. “Shelby, are you there?” Emma said into her comms.

_ “What’s up?” _

“Fire her up, we’ve got company.”

_ “Aye aye, captain.” _

“Gonzales—”

_ “I know, I know, never say that again.” _

“I don’t know why I ask when you never fucking listen.”

They tore through the treeline, heading for the clearing. At the back of her mind, Emma wondered why Alyssa didn’t try to slip away in the midst of all the chaos.

Finally, she caught sight of her beautiful ship again. She could already hear the engines humming. “There she is! Everybody on!” Laser blasts fired at them again, and Emma ran diagonally out of the way.

The door to the cargo hold still sat open, and Nick being the fastest, reached it first. He climbed onto the platform and held out a hand to help Kaylee up, then Alyssa. Greg clambered up himself. The moment Emma stepped onto the ship, she called out to Shelby again. “GET US OUT OF HERE! SIX POINT TWO!”

_ “Already on it!” _

Emma hit the button to close the door just as the ship rumbled and began to lift off the ground. As the door creaked upwards, closing slowly, Emma ducked out of the way of a few more blasts from the guards. They were persistent, she’d give them that credit. “Come on,” she muttered, pushing the button again as if that might make the doors close a little faster.

Then, one last laser blast shot through the opening and nailed Emma in the side. She cried out in pain, but watched in satisfaction as the door finally sealed behind her. She quickly flipped the switch to lock it and then collapsed to her knees.

“You okay, cap?” Greg asked, crouching down next to her to help her up.

“I’m fucking dandy.” Emma clenched her teeth as she stood, looking around at her crew plus one.

The ship rumbled beneath their feet, a little unsteady, and then all of a sudden the shaking subsided and the ride was smooth.

Shelby’s voice sounded again, but instead of in her ears it was over the ship’s intercom.  _ “We just crossed the atmosphere and are officially out of Carmuun. And don’t worry, cap, no one’s following us.” _

Though Emma was relieved, she let out a frustrated groan. Why couldn’t they ever have just one easy mission?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sound of the metal hatch closing echoed throughout the large room, and once the noise settled, everything was quiet now that it was almost empty. It was the most at peace Emma had felt all day. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking a moment to bask in the serene, quiet hum of the engine—
> 
> “Is it always like this on your ship?” Emma’s eyes shot open.
> 
> Alyssa was still leaning against the wall, looking up at where everyone had exited. She appeared much more relaxed, especially now that Shelby was no longer threatening her, and there was a tentative but amused smile on her lips.

“Boomer, what the hell happened back there?” Emma glared at Nick. She stormed across the cargo bay and jabbed her finger in his chest.

“Why do you assume it’s my fault?”

“Because it’s always your fault!” Emma cried out. “I gave specific instructions! What did I say?” Nick mumbled something under his breath; he clearly did not remember what she had said. “I said wait until we’re all clear of the estate to blow the mine! What the fuck happened?”

Nick mumbled under his breath again.

Kaylee rolled her eyes. “He dropped the damn trigger.”

“Fucking narc,” Nick hissed.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a puerile oaf, a mission would go according to plan for once!” Kaylee spat.

“I don’t know what that means, but fuck you!” Nick yelled, clenching his fists.

The two started bickering back and forth, and Emma could feel the constant pool of frustration in her head festering with each word. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples as their voices grew louder. In the midst of the argument, Kevin and Shelby dropped down into the cargo hold.

“Do I want to know what happened?” Shelby interrupted as they joined the group.

“Depends on how much you feel like killing Boomer today,” Kaylee replied.

“I always feel like killing Boomer.”

“Guys just… shut up,” Emma sighed, exasperated. “We got the diamonds, we blew the mine, and we got out safe. That was what we were trying to accomplish.”

“Um,” Kevin started, still standing at the top of the stairs, as he stared at the unfamiliar addition to the group. “Who are you?”

At those words, everybody’s heads turned, first to Kevin, and then to Alyssa, who still stood zip tied in the middle of this mess.

“Uh, hi,” Alyssa said. “Alyssa Greene. I’m your new hostage.”

“You’re not a hostage,” Emma groaned, rubbing her forehead.

“Well you definitely kidnapped her,” Greg shrugged.”

_ “We  _ kidnapped her and only because she suggested it!”

Shelby huffed. “Jesus. I’m gonna need someone to explain something before I lose my goddamn mind.”

Greg glanced at Emma and she nodded, signaling him to explain. She did not have the patience for that right now.

“As I was breaking into the safe, she just walked inside and found us. We couldn’t let her go because she would probably sound the alarm or find the guards, and she had seen our faces. And then, well, she suggested we kidnap her for ransom.” Greg awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. “That’s about it.”

Nick sniggered. “You guys got caught?”

Shelby ignored him and glared at Greg. “And you took the suggestion of Veronica Greene’s daughter?”

“I didn’t, Emma did!”

Shelby turned her glare toward Emma for a moment. Before she could even defend herself, Shelby had pulled a knife from her boot and pushed Alyssa up against the wall. “Who are you and what do you want from us?” Shelby threatened, holding her knife up against Alyssa’s chest, only a few centimeters away.

This was the first time Alyssa looked truly panicked.

“Whoa, whoa,” Emma stepped in, trying to pry Shelby away. “No knives. We’re not killing her so just chill out for a second so we can talk about this.”

Shelby dropped her hand that clutched the knife, no longer presenting it as a direct threat, but she kept her forearm pressed against Alyssa’s sternum, holding her to the wall so she wouldn’t try anything. She sent one last glare at Alyssa before returning her gaze toward Emma. “Why the hell would someone volunteer to be kidnapped? She could be a cop, or a spy or something! We drew a lot of attention with tweedle dumb’s mishap on Dullhan. People might be looking for us.”

The air in the room grew tense as suspicious eyes from the entire crew were trained on Alyssa. Emma gulped. She honestly didn’t know what had come over her when she made that decision. Once the idea of bringing Alyssa along was planted in her brain she just said yes without even thinking about it.

Alyssa, though still nervous, visibly relaxed once the knife was no longer an immediate threat. She cleared her throat. “I promise I’m not a cop.”

“That’s exactly what a cop would say,” Shelby shot back.

“Shelby,” Emma started, getting her attention again, “can you get us to Indigo Tethra?”

Shelby’s shoulders slumped and she threw her captain a worried look. “You really want to go there while she’s with us?”

“Look, we have to figure out a game plan before we even try to get rid of these diamonds,” Emma explained. “That’s the safest place for us to go.”

“What are we going to do with the prisoner?”

“She’s not a prisoner,” Emma sighed.

“Hostage?” Greg suggested.

“Kidnapping victim?” Nick chimed in.

Emma groaned. “We’ll just leave her here in the cargo hold for now. Greg, put the diamonds in my room. Shelby, get us to Indigo Tethra. Everyone else, go do your damn jobs.”

“What are you going to do?” Kaylee asked.

Emma sighed. “I’m going to have a little talk with our friend here.” Sure, Emma had made a reckless decision, but she was curious to figure out exactly what was going on inside the woman’s head.

The crew lingered for a moment. Shelby still had Alyssa pinned against the wall, Kevin was adamantly not making eye contact with anyone, Kaylee and Nick were still fuming at each other, and Greg gave Emma a worried look. In avoiding meeting his eyes, she glanced over at Alyssa. Alyssa was already watching her and when their eyes met, she offered a nervous smile.

Emma cleared her throat and looked away. “You’re all dismissed.”

Finally, the crew began to scatter. Kaylee headed to the engine room while everyone else made their way upstairs. Shelby hesitated a moment, sending one last glare in Alyssa’s direction before she stepped back and climbed up the stairs. When she left the cargo hold, she closed the hatch behind her, separating them from the main deck of the ship.

The sound of the metal hatch closing echoed throughout the large room, and once the noise settled, everything was quiet now that it was almost empty. It was the most at peace Emma had felt all day. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking a moment to bask in the serene, quiet hum of the engine—

“Is it always like this on your ship?” Emma’s eyes shot open.

Alyssa was still leaning against the wall, looking up at where everyone had exited. She appeared much more relaxed, especially now that Shelby was no longer threatening her, and there was a tentative but amused smile on her lips.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook,” Emma said. “Sit down.” She gestured to one of the crates nearby, and Alyssa quickly took a seat, crossing her legs in front of her, as if she was in a waiting room rather than an interrogation. Was this even an interrogation? Emma would have to figure that out pretty quickly. She puffed out her chest and put on her best intimidating bravado as she took a step forward, and suddenly remembered that she had been shot as the pain seared on her side. “Fuck.”

Alyssa’s gaze immediately softened. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Emma said, gritting her teeth. “Occupational hazard.” She took another step forward and realized that this facade was never going to work if she was clearly in pain the whole time. Instead of towering over Alyssa and intimidating her like she had planned, she slumped down and sat on the crate next to her.

“Do you want me to take a look at that?” Alyssa asked.

“What are you, a doctor?” Emma scoffed.

“Yeah, actually, I am.”

Emma blinked. “Shit, really?”

Alyssa chuckled. “I’ve treated patients who have been shot by those blasters before,” she explained. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Uhh,” Emma stuttered. On the one hand, Alyssa was supposed to be their hostage slash prisoner. On the other hand, this hurt like a bitch. “Sure, yeah, whatever.”

“Do you have an infirmary?” Alyssa asked. Emma stared at her blankly. “First aid kit?” Emma slowly shook her head. “Bandages?” Emma gave a half guilty shrug. At this point, Alyssa looked both concerned and desperate. “Alcohol?”

“Now that we do have.” Emma tried to stand, but the pain in her side made her knees buckle. She cursed and fell back down on the crate.

Alyssa sighed. “Where is it?”

“Red box on that shelf.” Emma pointed across the room.

Alyssa crossed the floor and opened the box. She rummaged through it for a moment, her hands still zip tied together, and eventually pulled out a bottle of vodka that Emma recognized as having probably the highest alcohol content of anything else in the box. She sat down next to Emma again. “Would you be able to…” Alyssa asked, holding up her zip tied hands. “I can think of a few things we can do with my hands tied, but this is not one of them.”

Emma sputtered, speechless for a moment as Alyssa just smirked at her. And then Emma realized what she was doing. Her mouth snapped shut and she glared at the woman. “Not a chance,” she said. “You’re not flirting your way out of this. Help me out and then maybe we’ll talk.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Well, can you at least open the bottle and pour a little over my hands?” she asked. Emma did as she was instructed, and Alyssa rubbed her palms together and muttered her thanks. “Where did you get shot?”

Emma thought about it for a moment. How many times did she get shot this time? She was pretty sure it was only twice. “Hand and side,” she said.

Alyssa looked at Emma’s side and took in the torn fabric of her shirt. “Um, would you mind…?” she gestured to the area. Emma gave her a confused look. “I need you to take off your shirt.”

Emma’s eyes grew wide as she realized. “Oh,” she cleared her throat. “Um— yeah, I— just a sec…” Her cheeks felt hot as she unbuttoned her shirt; she could feel Alyssa’s eyes on her, watching her every move. Once the shirt was unbuttoned, Emma shrugged the suspenders off her shoulders and started to pull off the shirt. When she hissed in pain, Alyssa quickly moved to assist her, easing her arms out of it.

Emma still had on a white t-shirt underneath, and she was about to ask if she needed to take that off too, when Alyssa’s hands immediately went to the bottom hem and pulled it up, just enough to reveal a long, nasty burn across her side. Alyssa’s brow furrowed in concentration as Emma watched her study her injury. “May I?” she asked, her voice gentle as her hands inched closer to Emma’s skin.

Emma swallowed and nodded her head. Alyssa’s hands inspected around the burn, pressing down. She glanced up to gage Emma’s reaction to the pressure, and from this close, it looked like there were flecks of gold in her brown eyes. She blinked and suddenly realized that Alyssa had just asked her a question. “Um, what?”

“I said, does this hurt?” Alyssa applied pressure again, and Emma actually focused on how it felt this time instead of dark brown eyes.

“Fine, I guess.” Emma shrugged. “No worse than usual.”

“No sharp pain?”

Emma shook her head and Alyssa turned her gaze back to the burn for further inspection while Emma tried to remember how to breathe.

“You got lucky,” Alyssa muttered eventually. “These blasters were designed to pierce the skin, tear through internal organs, and cauterize the wound behind it, making it much harder to treat. Looks like this shot only grazed you. You’ve got a nasty burn, but I’m pretty sure there’s no internal bleeding.”

“That’s good,” Emma said, nodding along as she spoke. “That’s good, right?”

Alyssa chuckled softly. “Yes, that’s good. I’m going to clean it up a little just so it doesn’t get infected. You should keep it covered and rinse with cold water twice a day. Might leave a scar.”

Emma shrugged. “I’m no stranger to scars.”

Alyssa’s tongue darted out between her lips very briefly as her eyes scanned the expanse of Emma’s abdomen. There was only one other scar visible from here, but it was a big one. A long gash laid across her belly diagonally in a faint white line. Alyssa’s fingers twitched for a moment, before pulling back. She cleared her throat. “Can you lean back for me?” Unthinkingly, Emma listened to her instructions. “This might sting a little bit.”

“What might—  _ fuck!” _ Emma cried out as Alyssa took the bottle of alcohol and poured a little bit over her wound. She instinctively gripped Alyssa’s shoulder, fingers digging in, as she closed her eyes in pain.

“Hey, I warned you.” Alyssa pulled Emma’s shirt back down over her stomach, careful to make sure the fabric wouldn’t irritate the burn. “Can I see your hand?”

Reluctantly, Emma held out her hand, which didn’t even hurt anymore. Alyssa carefully peeled off the glove and inspected her knuckles. “How is it?” Emma asked.

“This one’s not bad at all. Looks like your glove took most of the blow.”

Emma pouted. “I liked those gloves.”

A small smile appeared on Alyssa’s lips. “Should be fine in a couple of days,” she said, dropping Emma’s hand.

Emma sighed in relief. “That’s good, I use my hands a lot.”

“I’m sure you do,” Alyssa said with a wink. Emma gaped at her, but Alyssa continued on like nothing was amiss. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

Emma glared at her, but quickly noticed that Alyssa wasn’t trying to be snarky with her last question. There was a genuine sort of timidness to her demeanor that was surprising. She wasn’t even looking at Emma. Instead, her eyes wandered around the ship with a spark of wonder, her gaze never lingering in the same place for more than a few seconds. Emma’s glare softened into something more curious. “What is your deal, Alyssa Greene?” she muttered.

“What do you mean?”

Emma raised an eyebrow at her. “You found us breaking into your house. Instead of trying to stop us, you come to confront us, offer yourself as a hostage, and help us break out of there after we stole from you.”

“My mother.”

“What?”

“It was my mother’s house. You stole from her, not me.”

Emma sighed. “That doesn’t answer my question.” Alyssa looked down at the floor and stayed quiet. “If you don’t start talking, we’re never going to get you back home.”

There was a brief pause as Alyssa sighed. “What if… what if I didn’t want you to take me back?”

Emma frowned as the pieces started to click together in her brain. “Alyssa… why did you help us?”

Alyssa pursed her lips, hesitating to speak. She met Emma’s eyes and Emma nodded, hoping to reassure her that she could be trusted. After a moment, Alyssa looked away but she finally spoke up again. “Did you know I’ve never left Carmuun?” she mused with a soft laugh. “Thirty years old and I’ve been in the same place my entire life. My mother wanted to keep me close, and even though I had wanted to attend school off-planet, she wouldn’t even let me apply. Initially, she wanted me to go into politics. I guess I became a doctor as a weird way of rebelling against what she wanted.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”

She turned to Emma. “My mother is the worst. I’m sure you know that, since you decided to steal from her. I’ve just been… looking for some way to get out of there for a while. I tried applying for a stint with the United Health Agency, go to some third world planet and help people there, but she shut that idea down faster than I could even tell her about it. I once dated a woman just because she was from Morrida in the hopes that maybe if it turned into anything serious I could settle down on another planet and my mom would just have to be okay with it. When I saw your ship land and figured out you were breaking in I just… I had to try.”

“You saw our ship land?” Emma frowned.

“I have a telescope and you weren’t exactly stealthy with that landing.”

“That’s Shelby for you.” Emma shook her head, amused, but then the rest of what Alyssa had said sunk in. Emma stared at her blankly. “Wait, so your plan was to just… what? Fly off with the criminals breaking into your house?”

Alyssa shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Are you an idiot?!” Emma gasped. “That could’ve been anybody breaking in! Really bad people! You could be halfway to the slave market by now, or worse!”

“But I’m not,” Alyssa pointed out.

Emma groaned. She already had to deal with a whole crew of idiots on a daily basis and she did not need to add another one to that list. “That doesn’t make it any less dumb! You still have no reason to trust  _ me. _ I kidnapped you!”

“Only because I asked. Tell me, Emma, do you do anything a pretty girl asks you to?”

Emma felt her cheeks growing warmer, mostly out of anger, but she also couldn’t help the way her heart thumped in her chest as she looked at Alyssa. Of course she had noticed that Alyssa was gorgeous, but she wasn’t going to let anyone know she thought that, least of all Alyssa. “Shut up.”

Alyssa sighed. “Look, I just needed a way out and you gave me that.”

“And what are you going to do now? Did you even think this through?”

“Well, from the look of it, your crew might need a doctor.” Alyssa gave an innocent shrug.

Emma scoffed. “Wow, you’re really full of it, aren’t you? If you think you can just hitchhike onto my ship and weasel your way into my crew, you’re wrong. Why would you even want to work with us? You do realize that half the shit we do is super illegal and dangerous, right? You could be arrested or killed or—”

“Well that’s half the fun, isn’t it?” Alyssa interrupted with a sly smirk. It seemed every word Emma said just made Alyssa more invested in the idea, eyes growing wide with excitement at the prospect of adventure. Emma looked at her like she was crazy, which she was pretty sure she was. After a moment, she seemed to realize that Emma would not easily see things from her perspective; excitement softened into a subdued frown. “Please don’t send me back there.”

Emma shook her head and buried her face in her hands, considering for a moment. As much as she hated to admit it, a doctor on the crew would probably come in handy. And if everything Alyssa said was true, they had no reason not to trust her. Eventually she sat up and turned to Alyssa; she had a sad look on her face as she watched Emma. “You know I’m not the only one you have to convince, right?”

Alyssa’s lips turned up into a small smile. “Does that mean I have you convinced?”

Emma sighed. “It means… I’ll talk to the crew. Don’t get your hopes up.”

“I’ll take it,” Alyssa said, a look of relief crossing her face as she leaned back against the wall. “Anything we can do about this now?” She held up her hands again, still zip tied together.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” Emma chuckled. She stood up, groaning, but the pain in her side was a bit easier to manage by now. She grabbed her shirt, shrugging it back over her shoulders, and began to climb the stairs. She paused halfway up to turn back to Alyssa once again. As she finished buttoning her shirt up, she looked around at all the crates and boxes in the room. “Don’t… touch anything.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Aye aye, captain.” Emma shot her a glare, then continued up the stairs.

Emma climbed up to the main deck of the ship and closed the latch behind her, leaving Alyssa alone in the cargo hold. She sighed and looked around, spotting Kevin, Shelby, and Nick playing cards in the common area.  _ The ship better be on autopilot,  _ she thought. She strutted over and grabbed Kevin by the arm.

“Come with me,” she said, dragging him along behind her.

“But I was winning!” Kevin pouted, reaching out for the table.

“In your dreams, Kev,” Shelby laughed. “You’re lucky Nolan’s giving you the easy way out.”

She marched back toward their quarters and opened the door to her room, shoving Kevin inside before her. Greg was already there, sitting at her desk, waiting for her. “Oh, good, you’re here,” Emma said when she saw him. “Let’s talk.”

“How’s the hostage?” Greg asked, without getting up from her chair.

“Get out of my chair.” Greg frowned, but stood up, letting Emma sit down. She spun around, swiveling it to face them both. “That girl is insane.”

“You’re just now realizing that?” Greg asked.

“Let me finish,” Emma muttered. “She is probably insane, but… I think we can trust her.”

“Okay, now I think you’re insane.”

“Look, just hear me out,” Emma said. “She’s a doctor. She helped me out with this.” Emma gestured to her side that still ached, but her crew didn’t need to know it. “And let’s not forget she helped us get out of there after Nick blew the mine.”

“She must have had ulterior motives to that! She wanted to get on our ship and— and spy on us or something!”

“You’re listening to Shelby too much.” Emma shook her head and patted Greg sympathetically on the shoulder. “She wanted to get off Carmuun. That’s it. I think we can trust her.”

“You talked to her for five minutes!”

“Uh, guys,” Kevin interjected. “Why am I here?”

Emma turned her attention to Kevin, smiling at him. “Kevin, you are here because I need you to do what you do best.”

“Annoy Shelby?”

“No, no, I need you to do some digging on Alyssa Greene,” Emma said. “Just find out if everything she told me is true. She’s a doctor, she’s never left Carmuun, she doesn’t like her mother. Make sure there’s nothing she’s trying to hide from us before we present this to the rest of the crew. Can you do that for me, buddy?”

“On it,” Kevin said with a firm nod, and turned around to head out the door.

_ “Before we present this to the rest of the crew? _ Are you kidding me, Emma?” Greg scoffed. “Have you actually lost your mind? What, you want us to bring her on as our new doctor?”

“You have to admit, we sort of need one,” Emma pointed out. “On top of our regular occupational hazards,” she gestured to her injury once more, “last month Kevin ran into the door to the cockpit because he forgot it wasn’t automatic and gave himself a concussion.”

“Yes, but—”

“And Kaylee has broken her toe running into that workbench of hers down in the engine room on multiple occasions.”

“I  _ know,  _ but—”

“And let’s not forget about that time you sprained your ankle just stepping off the ship,” Emma said with a shrug. “Face it, Greg, we’re kind of a mess.”

“That’s not the point!” Greg said. “Shelby is smart to be wary of her. You can’t just trust some random stranger who basically kidnaps herself for us and tries to get close to us!”

“That’s why I’m having Kevin look into her. If everything she told me checks out, then that’s less of a reason to say no. Look, it’s kind of lucky that a doctor willing to work with  _ us _ just sort of fell into our laps. I’m being cautious, but I’m not going to ignore an opportunity like this.”

“An opportunity? For what, to get into her pants?”

Emma recoiled, hurt. “Really? You’re gonna do that?”

“Come on, Em, we both know you don’t have the best track record of good decisions when there’s a girl involved. Do you trust her because you want to or because you genuinely think it’s a good idea?”

Emma swallowed. “Thank you, first mate, for bringing your concerns to my attention. As always, they are noted. Now get out of my room.”

“But—” Instead of letting him answer, Emma stood to her feet, pushed him backwards out of her room, and slammed the door shut behind him.

She sat on her bed and huffed.  _ What have you gotten yourself into now? _ As she fell backwards on the bed, she winced at the impact when the burn on her side flared in pain again.

Emma closed her eyes hoping to relax for a bit until the pain subsided. She didn’t even realize she had fallen asleep until she was startled awake by a knock at her door. She blinked a few times, eyes groggy with sleep. She was only half laying on the bed, her legs still dangling over the edge from when she sat down. The knock sounded again.

“I’m coming,” she groaned. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and made her way to the door, throwing it open. Kevin walked inside, holding a tablet in his hands.

“We’re almost to Indigo Tethra,” he said.

“Oh, I’ve been asleep that long? Great.” Emma closed the door behind him as he stepped past her.

“Just a couple hours,” he said. “It’s been a long day, we all figured we’d let you sleep. I finished looking into Alyssa.”

“And?” Emma prompted.

He handed over the tablet. “See for yourself. Everything checks out.”

Emma swiped through the screen, skimming through the information for the important details. Born on Carmuun, lived there her whole life, attended university and medical school in her hometown, residency on the other side of the planet, then moved back home. The most surprising bit of information, though, was that Alyssa did not work at some fancy hospital or medical practice, but at a clinic.

“Huh,” she muttered as she scanned the pages. “So she was telling the truth.”

“And no red flags.”

Emma paused as she scrolled past a photo of Alyssa. It looked like a professional photo that would go on a company website. She pursed her lips, then quickly scrolled past it and handed the tablet back to Kevin. “What do you think, Kevin? Do you trust her?”

Kevin shrugged. “I trust you,” he said. “And if you trust her, then I trust her.”

Emma gave him a small smile. “I guess I’ll talk to everybody once we land.” Just then, the whole ship jerked and began to rumble. Emma and Kevin both quickly reached out for a piece of furniture to stabilize themselves on. “Speaking of…”

After a few minutes of white knuckling the furniture as the ship shook, there was another jolt as she touched down on the ground and slowly screeched to a halt. A moment later, the intercom buzzed to life.  _ “This is your pilot speaking. We have landed on Indigo Tethra. Please gather your belongings and make your way to the cargo hold in an orderly fashion.” _

Emma rolled her eyes. “Let’s go.”

They made their way down to the cargo hold where everyone else had already arrived. Shelby was standing very close to where Alyssa sat, one hand on her knife. When Emma walked down the stairs, Alyssa’s eyes fell upon her and she sat upright, her attention suddenly focused. Emma met her eyes for a moment, then walked past. She went up to the panel by the door, unlocked it, and pushed the button to open it.

The door to the cargo hold slowly creaked open, and the crew excitedly ran off the ship, jumping off the side before it was fully open. Alyssa stood up as Emma walked over to her, but her eyes were behind Emma’s shoulder, trying to see as much as she could of what lay outside the door. “Well, Captain Nolan?” Alyssa asked with a sly smile. “Am I free now?” She held up her wrists hopefully.

Emma shook her head. “Not yet. I’m going to need you to wait here for a bit.”

“What?” Alyssa scoffed, her face dropping. “I’ve been tied up here for hours! At least let me go to the bathroom!”

Emma sighed. “Just give me ten minutes. I haven’t talked to everybody yet and I’m not sure how they’ll react, but they’re always in a better mood when we stop here.”

“Why’s that?” Alyssa asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough,” Emma said, backing away from her. She leapt out of the ship and with one last wave, activated the door from the outside so it closed behind her.

Emma turned around and took a deep breath of the fresh air around her. The tall grass whipped in the breeze around her legs. The rest of her crew was already halfway to the farmhouse that sat in the distance, and Emma smiled softly at the familiar sight of her grandmother’s home.

Betsy was already out on the porch, waving to the crew, holding a few glasses of lemonade on a tray. Emma began to walk toward the house, finally feeling for the first time all day like she could breathe.

Greg was the first to reach the porch. He immediately wrapped Betsy in a warm hug, then he took the tray of lemonades from her hands. Emma felt her feet carrying herself faster across the field, ignoring the pain in her side, until she was jogging up the porch steps and hugging her grandmother tight. She sighed into the familiar, comforting embrace.

“I missed you, sweetpea,” Betsy said, ruffling her hair.

Emma chuckled as she pulled back. “I missed you too, gran. Sorry to drop in unannounced like this.”

Betsy waved her off. “I’m used to it. You know you kids are always welcome. Should I set the table for seven?”

“Actually…” Emma started, “you should probably set it for eight.”

Greg froze and Shelby gave her a questioning glare. Nick slurped loudly at his glass of lemonade.Betsy seemed to immediately pick up on the tension from the crew as she looked around at the faces that were now all watching Emma.

“I’m going to head inside and finish up dinner,” she said, backing away slowly. “Leave you all to talk about some things.” She closed the door behind her, leaving the crew out on the porch.

“Emma,” Shelby said stiffly, “is there something you’d like to tell us about the hostage?”

Emma pursed her lips. “First can we stop calling her  _ the hostage?” _

“That’s what she is, though. A hostage.”

“Okay, listen. This is going to sound crazy, but I need you guys to hear me out.”

Shelby frowned. “I already don’t like where this is going.”

Emma groaned. “Let me talk for one minute and I’ll explain,” she said, glaring at Shelby. Shelby put up her hands in innocence, then crossed her arms and stepped back. “I talked to Alyssa and I had Kevin do a background check on her. Kev?”

Kevin handed Shelby the tablet, and Kaylee immediately crowded her, leaning over one shoulder. Nick inched toward them, leaning over her other shoulder. Their eyes scanned the page as Emma continued on.

“Everything she told me checked out and there were no red flags. She’s not a spy or a cop or anything like that. She’s a doctor. I think we can trust her.”

“Why is this relevant?” Kaylee asked, not malicious, but merely curious.

“Well, you see, the reason she volunteered as a hostage is because she wanted to get off of Carmuun and away from her mother. And she sort of… volunteered her services as a doctor for us. I wanted to run it by you.”

“You want to say yes, don’t you?” Shelby said with a frown.

“I’m tempted to. God knows how often all of us get hurt. It’s a miracle nobody’s died yet.”

“We can’t just welcome the first doctor that wanders onto the ship!”

“We’re criminals, Shelb, I doubt there’s going to be many doctors dropping everything to work with us. She knows what we do and that hasn’t deterred her.”

“How do you know we can trust her?”

“I don’t,” Emma said simply. “Not fully, at least. That’s why I want to propose an idea. We take her out on our next mission as like… a trial run. See how she does. See if we can trust her.”

“And if we can’t?” Shelby asked, her voice quiet as she stepped up to Emma.

Emma frowned. “I’ll take care of it.” She didn’t want to think about what  _ taking care of it _ might mean. Hopefully that could be avoided. She held Shelby’s gaze for a moment. Shelby didn’t relent, as if testing to see if Emma would break. She didn’t, but neither did Shelby.

Eventually, she stepped back. “Fine,” Shelby said. “But if anything goes wrong, this is on you.”

“I’m your captain,” Emma said with a shrug. “It’s always on me.” She glanced around at everyone else. “Well?”

Kaylee nodded. “I trust you, Em. Let’s do it.”

Nick just shrugged. “I guess.”

Kevin nodded firmly.

She turned to Greg, who had been quiet the entire time. Finally, he nodded. “I’ll support you. But if this goes wrong I won’t hesitate to say I told you so.”

Emma laughed. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t.” She glanced back to the ship and saw that the sun was just starting to set, the soft orange a contrast to the blue around it. Sunsets on Indigo Tethra really were something special. Perfect timing. She cleared her throat and turned back to the group. “Everyone head inside for dinner. I’ll go grab Alyssa. And  _ please,”  _ she said, eyeing Shelby, “at least try to be civil.”

Shelby made a face, but when Emma kept her glare trained on her, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll do my best.” She brushed past Emma, bumping into her shoulder on the way, and walked inside.

As the rest of the crew headed into the house, Emma turned around and strolled back to the ship. She opened the cargo door and stepped inside.

Alyssa was already on her feet; she had probably stood the moment the door began to open. She looked at Emma with a curious hope in her eyes. Emma marched across the floor and stopped right in front of her. Emma stood a few inches taller than Alyssa and had to tilt her head down to meet her eyes.

“Well?” Alyssa asked.

Emma didn’t say anything. She pulled out her pocket knife and flicked it open. Alyssa’s eyes went wide for a moment, but Emma grabbed her hands and slashed her knife against the plastic zip ties, freeing her hands.

Alyssa gasped in relief and rubbed her wrists. Emma frowned when she noticed the faint red line on her skin where the tie was. She had been in those for a long time.

“I’m sorry about this,” Emma muttered, holding up the zip tie and then dropping it to the ground. “But they agreed to trust you for now.”

“So I’m on the team?” Alyssa asked, an excited smile on her lips.

Emma chuckled. “Not quite,” she said. “But you’re getting there.”

Alyssa’s excited grin turned to a soft smile. “Thank you,” she muttered. “I know you had no reason to listen to me, but… you did anyway.”

Emma just shrugged and turned away from Alyssa, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck as her cheeks flushed. “So, you’ve never left Carmuun?” she said.

“Nope.”

“Are you ready to step foot on another planet for the first time?”

“Really?” Alyssa gasped.

Emma turned back to her and saw a hopeful wonder in Alyssa’s eyes as she gazed past Emma and toward the door. Emma held out her hand, which Alyssa took hesitantly. As she led them out of the ship, Alyssa kept her eyes on the ground while she walked.

Emma stepped into the grass before her and turned around, waiting for Alyssa to follow. Alyssa took a deep breath, a tentative step forward, and then looked up.

“Welcome to Indigo Tethra,” Emma said.

If Emma had any doubts regarding Alyssa’s intentions, they immediately disappeared. The look of wonder in Alyssa’s eyes upon seeing a new sky for the first time was something that couldn’t possibly have been faked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me so far! I’m having a lot of fun writing this so please leave a comment or a kudos and let me know what you think :)
> 
> Also disclaimer I am not a medical professional (nor any science professional) so I’m just fudging most of that stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma felt almost nervous as she watched Alyssa experience a new planet for the first time in her life, especially being a planet that was so important to her. For a moment, Alyssa said nothing. All that could be heard was the light breeze rustling through the tall grass. And then she spoke only one, breathless word.
> 
> “Wow.”

Emma felt almost nervous as she watched Alyssa experience a new planet for the first time in her life, especially being a planet that was so important to her. For a moment, Alyssa said nothing. All that could be heard was the light breeze rustling through the tall grass. And then she spoke only one, breathless word.

“Wow.”

Alyssa took another tentative step forward into the grassy field. Her eyes couldn’t stay in one place for long. They flitted from the orange sunset, to the blue sky above, to the grass beneath her feet, to the horizon where fields stretched on for miles.

“It’s so different from anything I’ve ever seen before,” Alyssa mused. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. “The air smells so fresh. On Carmuun it just smells like coal everywhere.”

“Well, Indigo Tethra is primarily a farming planet, so… lots of fresh air.”

She turned to Emma. “Why are we here?”

Emma pointed to the farmhouse and Alyssa’s eyes followed in that direction. “That’s my grandmother’s house. I sort of grew up here.”

“Really?” Alyssa turned back to Emma with a look of awe. “You grew up surrounded by all this? That’s incredible.”

“Well, I lived in the city until I was ten, but then I came to stay with my grandparents.”

Suddenly, Alyssa frowned. “Wait, does your grandmother know about the, er... as you put it _illegal shit_ you do?”

Emma laughed. “Oh, yeah, of course. My grandpa used to do the same shit. This actually used to be his ship.” Emma gestured over her shoulder to The Beatrice behind her. “He built it himself. She’s perfect for smuggling because there’s a ton of hidden compartments and since she’s not mass produced, no one knew the blueprints but him. I still don’t think I’ve found all the hidden compartments to be honest.” Emma frowned as she went through the whole ship inside her head, so confused as to where else one could be, but there was always the faint smell of pineapple in that one corner of the cockpit that she could never find the source of.

“So it’s a family business, then?” Alyssa asked with a smile as she gently bumped Emma’s shoulder with her own.

Emma rubbed at the back of her neck. “Something like that. I don’t know if he wanted me and Greg to go into this line of work exactly, but he taught me to fly. It wasn’t until after he died that gran gave us the ship.”

When Alyssa said nothing in response, Emma looked to her again. Her eyes had stopped wandering the world around them and were focused on Emma, head tilted and lips pursed in interest.

“What?” Emma suddenly felt self conscious under her curious gaze.

Alyssa just shook her head lightly and turned away. “Nothing,” she muttered. “I’m just still trying to figure you out.”

Emma chuckled. “I could say the same about you.” There was a soft smile on Alyssa’s lips as she cast her eyes toward the ground. Emma watched her for a moment, then cleared her throat. “Um, dinner’s almost ready so I hope you’re hungry.”

“Well my kidnappers didn’t exactly give me any snacks.”

“Okay, you’re trying to be funny. Good one,” Emma said, unamused. She took off toward the house leaving Alyssa behind her.

Alyssa jogged for a moment to catch up with her. “Fuck you, I _am_ funny.”

“Don’t make me change my mind about giving you a chance,” Emma said, amused despite herself.

Alyssa slowed down at Emma’s words. “Would you do that?” she frowned.

Emma’s shoulders slumped at the fear in Alyssa’s voice. “No,” she admitted. “Come on.”

When they arrived inside, everyone was already in the dining room. Greg distributed utensils, Kevin laid a plate at each seat, Shelby and Nick carried platters of food from the kitchen to place on the table, and Kaylee filled glasses of water.

“You’re just in time!” Betsy said. Then, taking in the sight of Alyssa, she added, “Now who might you be?”

“Alyssa Greene, ma’am.” Alyssa shook Betsy’s hand.

“None of that ma’am business here,” Betsy brushed off. “The name’s Beatrice Nolan but you can call me Betsy, dear.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Betsy,” Alyssa said with a charming smile.

“Alyssa here is a doctor,” Emma explained. “She might be joining the crew.”

“Well I’d love to see you around more,” Betsy said, patting her on the shoulder. “Now grab a seat, it’s almost dinner time.” Once Alyssa walked past to find a seat at the table, Betsy turned to Emma and mouthed, _“She’s cute!”_

Emma glared daggers at her grandmother as she walked past. “Cooking all this for yourself, gran?” she asked as she sat down next to Alyssa.

“Greg called a couple hours ago. Gave me time to prepare. The guest rooms are all set too.”

“Thanks Betsy,” all the voices around the table echoed in unison.

Everybody settled into a seat and stared at the food. It was a moment before Betsy said, “Well, dig in!” Immediately, hands reached out for platters and bowls, and voices picked up filling the room.

Nick went right for the lasagna and began piling it onto his plate.

“Leave some for the rest of us!” Kevin pouted.

“Can you pass the jug of water?” Greg asked.

“Are those peanuts?” Kaylee asked, eyeing the nondescript nuts in the salad.

“No, almonds,” Betsy answered.

“Are you allergic to peanuts?” Alyssa questioned.

“Shelby is.”

“Great, now she knows how to poison me,” Shelby muttered.

“Shelb, be nice,” Emma warned.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m a doctor, I’m sure I could think of a handful of other creative ways to poison you if I really wanted to.”

The table went silent for a moment until Nick burst out laughing, and everyone else slowly followed suit. Shelby didn’t laugh, though, and glared across the table at Alyssa.

Despite the tension radiating off of Shelby at her obvious distrust of Alyssa, dinner was a nice affair, and Emma always appreciated getting a home cooked meal. Sometimes you just don’t have the time to cook when you’re traveling through space.

That night, though the home she grew up in usually provided a sense of comfort, Emma found herself unable to sleep. She tossed and turned for what felt like hours until she finally decided that sleep wasn’t happening anytime soon. She got out of bed, threw on a jacket over her pajamas, and padded out of her room barefoot.

She was surprised to find a light on in the kitchen as she walked out. She almost ran directly into Shelby as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. Shelby was quick to balance the glass of water she carried so to not spill anything.

“Shelby?” Emma asked. “What are you doing up?”

Shelby shrugged. “Just got thirsty is all,” she yawned. “Goodnight, cap.”

“See you in the morning.” Emma watched as she wandered down the hall and disappeared around the corner. She entered the kitchen and poured a glass of water herself, but as she fumbled through the cupboards, she spotted someone else who was awake at this hour sitting out on the porch.

Emma sighed and grabbed another glass from the cupboard. She filled it with water and walked outside.

“Can’t sleep?”

Alyssa’s head snapped to the side, as if she hadn’t heard the door close or the footsteps approaching her. She shook her head. “How can I sleep when this sky is out here?” she muttered. Emma offered her a glass of water, and Alyssa gratefully accepted it and took a sip. She scooted over on the bench and patted the spot next to her, inviting Emma to sit down. “It’s so… blue. The night sky on Carmuun was so black. And the stars here are all so different..”

Emma sat next to her, leaving a few inches of space between them. “Yeah, we’re actually close enough to the sun that it provides a warm climate year round, which is why farming is such a popular enterprise here. But it also means that even at night, the sky doesn’t get too dark. It stays this beautiful blue color. It’s actually where the planet’s name comes from. I guess the first people who settled here saw the night sky and thought Indigo Tethra was a fitting name.”

“Wow,” Alyssa whispered, eyes not leaving the sky. Emma was more than content to look out at the stars with her. She missed this sky when she was away. After a moment, without looking away, Alyssa spoke up again. “They’re a cute couple.”

Emma turned to look at her, brow furrowed in confusion. “Who?”

She nodded back toward the kitchen where Emma had come from. “The engineer and the pilot.” Emma gaped at her, baffled. It wasn’t until Alyssa turned her head that she saw the look of shock on Emma’s face. “Did you not know they’re hooking up?”

“What are you talking about?” Emma sputtered. “I would know if Kaylee and Shelby were hooking up. I know what goes on in my crew.”

“I mean, it’s kind of obvious,” Alyssa said. “They’re always standing so close to each other—”

“They’re best friends, of course they’re going to stand close to each other.”

“Yeah, but they’re very blatantly not touching. Best friends would touch, they don’t care,” Alyssa explained simply with a shrug. Emma frowned as she tried to recall. Kaylee and Shelby used to be all over each other, but more recently they had grown less and less affectionate. Emma had just attributed it to Kaylee’s former relationship with Nick coming between them, but maybe it was something else. “And at dinner,” Alyssa continued. “Kaylee knew that Shelby was allergic to peanuts.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “It’s a small ship, and Kaylee’s smart, of course she would remember something like that.”

“Did _you_ know she was allergic to peanuts?”

“Uh, I think I might have known it was some sort of nut…” Emma frowned. As the captain, maybe she should keep better track of her crew’s allergies.

“And they’re sharing a room tonight,” Alyssa stated. “Shelby was just wearing Kaylee’s shirt in the kitchen. Or did you not notice?”

“What?! She was not…” Emma trailed off as her brain thought back to a few minutes ago. In fact, the shirt did seem to have a fair bit of engine grease on it that she could recall. “Huh.”

Alyssa held out her hands in an obvious, I told you so, sort of gesture. Emma frowned, trying to think back on the last few weeks on the ship, trying to remember if there were any other signals she had missed.

“Why wouldn’t they tell me?” Emma frowned. She wasn’t looking for an answer; she was mostly just musing out loud. Alyssa seemed to be able to tell because she didn’t respond and turned her gaze back out toward the stars. “You’ve been with us less than a day. How did you know?” Emma asked her eventually.

Alyssa shrugged. “Just observant, I guess.” Silence fell between them again. Emma sat back on the bench and took in the familiar sky of her home, the familiar breeze rustling the grass, the familiar fresh scent in the air. Her eyes drifted closed and she felt at peace, like she always did when she came home. “You know,” Alyssa whispered, “even if your team never comes around and you drop me off on some random, remote planet leaving me to fend for myself… it was worth it. Just for this view.” Alyssa was silent for another moment, then Emma heard the bench creak next to her. Emma opened her eyes, watching while Alyssa stood to her feet and placed a hand on her shoulder as she stepped past her. “Goodnight, Emma.”

Emma nodded to her before she walked away. She was stuck on the bench for a moment and glanced at her shoulder where she felt the gentle touch of Alyssa’s hand. Letting out a sigh, Emma shook her head and made her way back to her bedroom.

The next morning, Emma woke up to the smell of bacon as it wafted through the house. It was still early, and everyone was still seemingly asleep, but Emma knew her grandmother was an early riser. She wandered out of the room and found Betsy in the kitchen, starting breakfast for everyone.

“You really don’t have to do this, gran,” Emma said as she yawned. She went straight to the fridge to grab a carton of juice and pour herself a glass.

“I don’t mind it,” Betsy replied, kissing Emma on the side of the head as she walked past. “You know I love the company.”

“I just don’t want them to get used to the home cooked meals and complain about the food next time we’re out in space for a few weeks,” Emma chuckled.

“Fine,” Betsy said. “I’ll burn the bacon.”

“No!” Emma gasped. She reached past her grandmother to grab a piece of perfectly cooked bacon directly from the stove and shoved it into her mouth. “Hot! Fuck!”

“Language, Emma.”

Emma swallowed the bacon and tried to cool down her mouth with a gulp of juice. “Sorry gran.”

“So I take it this is a quick visit?” Betsy asked as she began to remove the bacon from the heat and placed it onto a plate.

Emma frowned. “Yeah,” she sighed. “I’m sorry. I wish we could stay a bit longer but we should take off after breakfast.”

“You don’t have to explain, I get it,” Betsy said. “I’m just glad to have you home for a night.”

“I miss you too, but there’s just so much to do out there.”

“Oh, I know. I went on a handful of trips with your grandfather.” A wistful smile grew on Betsy’s lips. “It’s some universe out there. The places you’ll see, the people you’ll meet…”

“It sure is,” Emma agreed.

“So speaking of meeting people,” Betsy not so subtly segued, “tell me more about this Alyssa you picked up.”

Emma groaned, “Not now, gran.”

“What, touchy subject?”

“I don’t know, I just— I made an impulsive decision and half the crew doesn’t trust her and I just keep feeling like I fucked this up but then she looks at me and I feel like I made the right decision. I don’t know if I can trust my own judgment on that, though.”

“Hey, they’re just being smart. You can’t trust anyone in your line of work.” Betsy offered her another piece of bacon, slightly cooled off by now, and Emma accepted it with a small smile.

“I know,” Emma sighed.

“I for one am glad you’re finally getting a doctor on board that ship of yours!” Betsy said, as she grabbed a bowl and began to mix the batter within. “Can’t have you dying on me again.”

“Okay, that was one time and I didn’t actually die.”

“But you almost did.”

“That’s fair.”

The sound of soft footsteps pattering into the kitchen got both of their attention. “What’s that smell?” Alyssa had woken, her hair was messy, and as she stretched her arms over her head while she yawned, her shirt rode up, exposing a strip of skin. Emma’s eyes were drawn to it for a moment before she quickly averted her gaze.

“Do they not have bacon on Carmuun?”

“We don’t have a lot of livestock,” Alyssa muttered with a shrug. She leaned against the counter next to Emma and tilted her head towards her. “And we only import chicken and beef.”

“God that sounds awful,” Emma said without thinking.

“It was,” Alyssa laughed. She eyed the plate of bacon. “Can— can I try some?”

“Help yourself, dear,” Betsy said, scooting the plate closer to her.

Emma heard the sound of doors opening and more footsteps down the hall as everyone else woke for the day. She cleared her throat and pushed off from the counter to stand across the room as others began to file into the kitchen, but she watched as Alyssa grabbed a piece of bacon, eyed it suspiciously, and took a bite. Her eyes lit up and she immediately went in for another bite. Emma tried to suppress a smile on her own lips.

Eventually everyone had woken, Kaylee and Shelby being the last to join them in the kitchen. Alyssa gave Emma a pointed look from across the room, and Emma just shrugged. She watched silently as Shelby prepared two mugs of coffee, handing one to Kaylee when she was finished. How the hell had she not noticed any of these little things before?

After everyone had eaten their fill of pancakes and eggs and bacon, praising Betsy for her cooking, they all dressed and got ready Indigo Tethra. Emma waited out on the porch with her crew while Alyssa changed; she had to borrow some of Emma’s old clothes that she left here with Betsy.

When Alyssa stepped outside wearing an old flannel shirt, Emma’s breath caught in her throat. She really had to get control of herself stop looking at Alyssa like this or the crew would catch onto whatever feelings had started to creep up on her soon enough. She looked down at her own feet and cleared her throat.

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s talk,” Emma said. “We’ll go to Fianna to drop the diamonds.”

“What’s on Fianna?” Alyssa asked, curious. Shelby rolled her eyes.

“I— I have a contact there. Barry. He may not pay the most, but he’s trustworthy. Right now we just need to get rid of these diamonds and be on our way.”

“What are we going to do about princess over here?” Shelby asked, gesturing her thumb to Alyssa. Emma was about to glare at Shelby, but she saw Kaylee give her a pointed look, and then Shelby’s shoulders slumped.

“Alyssa’s coming with me and Greg so we can keep an eye on her,” Emma explained.

“Keep an eye on me?” Alyssa frowned. “What am I, a child?”

“Until we know we can trust you, yes,” Emma explained before Shelby could interject. “Nick, Kaylee, we’ll be at the Tetrus market so you’ll probably be able to buy some parts or weapons there. Stock up because I don’t know when we’ll be coming back.”

“You got it, cap,” Nick said.

“Shelby, Kevin—”

“Stay on the ship,” they both said in unison.

Emma frowned. “I’m sorry, guys. I promise I’ll get you out next job.”

“Yeah, you’d better— ouch!” Shelby muttered, but was cut off when Kevin elbowed her in the side.

“Don’t worry, we’re used to it,” Kevin shrugged.

“If there’s no confusion, we should get back on the ship. It’s a short trip to Fianna but I just want to get rid of these diamonds and be done with it.”

There was a murmur of agreement and everyone meandered back to the ship. Emma and Greg went back inside to hug their grandmother goodbye, then followed everyone else. The ship’s engines were already humming when they arrived, ready for takeoff. Emma climbed inside last, shut the cargo door behind her, then intercommed up to Shelby.

“Let’s get out of here.”

_“Roger that, captain.”_

When Emma turned the cargo hold, the only people who remained besides herself were Greg and Alyssa. Emma gave her a questioning look.

“I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to see the rest of the ship yet,” Alyssa shrugged. “Figured I’d stay here.”

“Well, we have a little time,” Emma said. “I might as well give you a tour. Greg, can you call Barry and tell him we’re on our way? And grab the diamonds?” Greg nodded, climbed up the stairs, and disappeared through the hatch to the main deck of the ship. She turned back to Alyssa and pursed her lips. “So… I guess you’re already familiar with the cargo hold?”

Alyssa nodded, unamused. “Very much so.”

“Right, right,” Emma muttered. “Follow me.” She waved a hand, gesturing for Alyssa to follow as she climbed the stairs. “So this leads up to the main deck of the ship, but we’ll get to that later.” Emma pushed open the door on the landing of the stairs and climbed down the ladder on the other side of it. She glanced up to make sure Alyssa was following her before continuing. “Over here is the engine room. If you ever need Kaylee, you can probably find her in here.” She landed on the floor of the room and stepped aside.

“Need something?” Kaylee popped up from behind one of the massive engines, pulling the protective goggles away from her eyes.

“Just showing Alyssa around,” Emma explained. Alyssa dropped down from the ladder next to her. “How’s that modification coming?”

Kaylee’s face lit up. “Pretty good! I think I finally found the acceleration module, so I’m just trying to get it to work with me so that we can increase speed faster without overheating and, well, blowing the engine.”

“No explosions on my ship, please.”

“Don’t worry, I’m figuring it out!”

“And no more mishaps with the lights.”

“Emma, do you trust me?” Kaylee feigned a hurt expression.

Emma laughed. “You know I do.” She turned to Alyssa. “Come on, back up.” Emma stepped past her, climbing up the ladder again, and Alyssa followed her.

Once they were in the cargo hold again, they trekked up the rest of the stairs. Emma opened the hatch and climbed through into the hallway. She held out a hand to help Alyssa up into the main deck of the ship.

“This is her.”

“Beatrice?”

Emma nodded, a small smile on her lips. “Grandpa named her after gran,” she mused.

Alyssa looked around. The hallway wasn’t anything special, but she still regarded it with a wonder like she had never seen anything like it before in her life. “She’s beautiful.”

Emma felt a satisfied hum in her chest. She loved her ship and she loved to proudly show it off. It was nice when others agreed that it was the best ship in the galaxy. Maybe Alyssa hadn’t said _exactly_ that, but she had given a compliment and that still made Emma swell with pride. She gestured toward the front of the ship. “Up there is the cockpit.” She hesitated a moment. “Maybe we should wait until Shelby’s in a better mood to show you up there.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Alyssa agreed.

“But this way,” Emma continued, walking backward toward the other door, “is the common area. It’s where most of us spend our free time. There’s a small kitchen, dining area, a couple sofas. Not much to do up here but we play cards or read a lot.” Emma wandered inside to where Kevin was napping on one of the couches. Nick and Greg were playing a heated game of cards.

Alyssa, though, stepped right up to the observatory window and peered through. “Holy shit,” she muttered, gazing through the glass out at the stars and galaxies clustered outside. She brought her hand up and placed her fingers against the glass in awe.

Emma stepped up next to her. “Yeah, that’s my favorite part too,” she confessed, glancing at Alyssa for a brief moment, then turning her eyes out to the stars.

“I feel like I could look out here forever,” Alyssa said, breathless. She gazed out another moment, until Nick let out a frustrated wail from the table behind them, startling her.

Emma chuckled, amused. “Come on,” she said, tugging on Alyssa’s arm to lead her past the common area and into the back of the ship. She closed the door behind them. “Back here is where the bathroom and all our bedrooms are.”

“Do I get a bedroom, or should I just share yours?” Alyssa asked with a wink.

Emma was starting to harden herself to Alyssa’s flirtatious remarks. Keyword: starting. They were infrequent enough that she was still caught off guard when she slipped one into conversation. Emma gaped for a moment, fighting the blush on her cheeks, before shaking her head. _“If_ you end up joining the crew,” Emma said, emphasizing the _if,_ “then we do have a spare room we can clean out. It’s sort of turned into a storage closet, but I’ll make everybody grab their shit.”

“And for now?” Alyssa asked, leaning back against the door with a smirk on her lips.

“You can ask Kevin how comfortable that sofa is?” Alyssa laughed, and Emma was entranced by the curl of her lip and the dimple on her cheek. She was about to continue, when there was a distant bang, followed by a whirring sound. The next thing Emma knew, she was being lifted off her feet as the artificial gravity on the ship gave out.

Alyssa let out a small squeal and instinctively reached out for Emma, latching onto her arm as she looked down to the floor. “What is happening?” she squeaked.

Emma sighed. “Why don’t we go find out?” She moved Alyssa’s hands to her waist from behind, and braced herself along the wall. She slid the door back open and they slowly made their way back into the common area. “How’s your game going, boys?” Emma asked.

Nick and Greg were both clutching onto their chairs that floated a few feet off the ground. The playing cards were strewn about, floating in the air between them like constellations of their own. Greg was practically crying as he sifted through the cards, trying to find his missing hand.

“I was losing, but I think this means I don’t have to pay him, right?” Nick asked.

Emma nodded. “Absolutely.”

They made their way slowly through the common area, past Nick and Greg’s ruined game, past Kevin, still fast asleep as he floated midair, back to the hatch.

“Kaylee?” Emma called out. “What’s going on?”

“Sorry boss!” Kaylee’s reply was immediate, echoing up from the engine room. “Just a minor malfunction. I’ve almost… got it… there!” There was another whirring sound, and suddenly the gravity kicked back on. Their bodies fell to the floor with a light thud, Alyssa landing on top of her.

Emma felt the breath knocked out of her, and not from the landing. She gazed up at Alyssa on top of her, curls framing her face, eyes wide in surprise, lips parted with a gasp. “Uh,” Emma sputtered.

“I—”

“We can—“

Alyssa chuckled awkwardly. “Here,” she said, cheeks red, but a small smile on her lips. She rolled off of Emma and pushed up off the floor, getting to her feet. She held out a hand to help Emma up as well. “Sorry about that,” she muttered.

“Not your fault,” Emma said as she stood to her feet. She looked down at their still joined hands and quickly pulled away. She brushed off her clothes, busying her hands with something to do. “Um, why don’t we head back to the…” She gestured over her shoulder at the common area. “We can… watch cards?” Emma cringed at her own words as her cheeks flushed.

“Sure,” Alyssa said, not teasing or prodding, but she stepped past and through the door. Emma turned around. She fought the blush on her cheeks as she watched Alyssa help Greg clean up the playing cards that were scattered across the room.

Kevin was still sound asleep on the floor.

It was a short time later that everyone gathered in the cargo bay as Shelby landed the ship. The landing was a bit more gentle than usual this time, probably because she actually had a port to land on instead of a clearing in the forest or an open field. Still, everyone braced themselves as the ship impacted with the ground.

“Everyone remember what we’re doing?” Emma asked as Shelby dropped down to join them. Everyone nodded. “Okay. We’re making this a quick trip, remember?”

“Yes sir,” Shelby said with a mock salute. Emma did her best to ignore her. She opened the doors and some of the crew began to file out.

“Alyssa,” Emma called out after her as she began to exit the ship. “Stay with me and Greg. Don’t talk to anyone, and most importantly, don’t touch anything.”

Alyssa nodded along as Emma spoke. “Got it. Don’t have any fun.”

Emma groaned. “Don’t make me regret this.” She shook her head and drew her gun, making sure it was loaded before putting it back into its holster. “Just remember, this place is very different from anywhere you’ve been before. It’s a little seedy, and the people here are dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Okay,” Alyssa said, nodding again. There was no sarcastic remark tacked on, which eased Emma’s worries a little bit. At least she knew when to take things seriously.

Kaylee and Nick had already taken off to get started on their shopping, but Greg waited outside the ship for them. Emma stepped off and Alyssa followed close behind her.

The port itself was a little unkempt and crowded. Sometimes there were multiple ships parked at one port, just because there was no room. There were a lot of heavily armed security guards around the perimeter, scanning the premises.

“Fianna itself isn’t exactly the most respectable of places,” Emma muttered to Alyssa as they walked out of the port. “The main industry is illegal trade, which is primarily at the Tetrus market. That’s why we’re here.” As they made their way out of the port and rounded the corner toward the market, she added, “Just stay alert and stay close.”

The Tetrus market was enormous, but spread out between buildings and down alleys in this stretch of city. The ground was littered with dirt, debris, and garbage. There were rickety stands as far as the eye could see with broken tables and holes in canopies, selling various items and trinkets. And the people and patrons looked even seedier.

Emma and her crew didn’t stick out like a sore thumb here, but they didn’t exactly blend seamlessly either. She noticed Alyssa tense next to her, but when Emma glanced over, she had put on a brave face. Emma was a little impressed. Most people were a little shaken their first time visiting the Tetrus market.

They weaved through the crowd, past stands selling weapons, bones (though Emma wasn’t sure if they were human or animal), musical instruments, illegally imported foods, and more. A man with a scar that looked like a claw mark across his face sneered at Alyssa, and in the brief moment that Alyssa glanced at him, he hissed at her. She pressed a little closer into Emma’s side as they walked past.

Barry’s place was deep in the heart of the Tetrus market, and although Emma had been here many times, she had never taken the same route to get there. She wasn’t sure if it was because there were different stands every time she came, or because she just couldn’t remember the same route to get there. Eventually, she caught sight of the familiar building.

She pushed past the tattered curtain hanging over the doorway and stepped into the dimly lit room. A man sat at the table counting bills, but other than that, the room was empty.

Emma cleared her throat. “Sheldon? We’re here for Barry.”

“He’s upstairs,” Sheldon replied, barely glancing up. He did a double take when he realized there was an unfamiliar face with them. “Who’s this?”

“A friend,” Emma said noncommittally, heading toward the staircase with Alyssa and Greg in tow.

“The boss is going to want to know!” Sheldon called after them. Emma ignored him as she climbed up the rickety staircase.

When she walked through the doors, she saw the familiar figure of her old friend, looking through titles on a dusty old bookshelf. The moment he heard the floorboards creak under their feet, he spun around, the brightest smile on his face.

“Hey, kid,” he said. Emma darted across the room and hugged him.

“Hey Barry.”

Alyssa and Greg followed after, and the moment Barry spotted Greg, he pulled away from Emma to hug her cousin. “Good to see you,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

“Too long,” Barry said with a laugh. “You should visit more often.” His eyes fell upon Alyssa. He briefly glanced toward Emma, then turned back to study Alyssa curiously. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Barry Glickman.” He held out his hand.

“Alyssa Greene,” she said, shaking his hand. Barry quirked an eyebrow at her last name. Emma suspected he recognized it, but did not comment.

“Barry used to work with my grandpa,” Emma explained to her. “I’ve known him most of my life.”

“And then I decided to quit the life of a pirate and settle down on this paradise,” he said, sarcastically. Then he added, more genuine, “Actually, it’s not so bad here. Once you get out of the market it’s pretty nice. And the money’s even better. Now!” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Let’s see those diamonds.”

Emma looked over to Greg; he pulled the pouch out of his coat pocket and tossed it over to Barry. He walked around to his desk where he carefully tipped the contents of the bag onto it and picked up a small diamond.

“Hm,” he said, squinting one eye. “Looks good. I do need my gemstone expert to verify, though. I’m sure you understand. I got ripped off a couple times last month, so she’s a new addition to the team.”

“Of course,” Emma said. “Whatever you need.”

“DEE DEE!”

The double doors behind Barry’s desk blew open as Dee Dee stepped through, a woman who made sure her presence was known. “I heard there were diamonds.” She nodded politely at Emma and Greg, but the moment her eyes fell upon Alyssa, she dropped her showy demeanor and glared at Barry. “Are you an idiot?”

Emma frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Why the hell would you let her up here?!”

“I’m not sure I know either,” Barry said, curiously turning to Dee Dee.

“The notice that was just broadcast everywhere not five minutes ago? Am I the _only one_ who knows what’s going on here?!”

“Apparently,” Greg muttered.

Dee Dee shoved Barry out of the way and began typing something onto his desktop. After a moment, she turned the screen so everyone could see and staring back at Emma was a photo of Alyssa Greene on a missing person’s notice with a reward of ten thousand credits for her safe return. Emma turned to look at Alyssa who appeared just as surprised as everyone else in the room.

“Shit,” Alyssa cursed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This chapter was a little filler-y but I hope you still enjoyed! Please leave a comment/kudos/etc. I appreciate all of your responses so much ❤️


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m sorry,” Emma said with a chuckle as she faced the man in front of her again. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I think this is just a big misunderstand—“
> 
> Emma squealed as the man’s hand lunged forward, going for her shirt collar. She quickly ducked out of the way and his hand skimmed against the top of her head.
> 
> She turned and pushed Alyssa forward. “Go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter: blood, guns, daggers, and general violence.

Emma looked back and forth between Alyssa staring in shock and the photo of her on Dee Dee’s screen. This was not good.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” Emma questioned. She felt bad when she saw the hurt look on Alyssa’s face, but she needed to be a captain right now. She needed to put her crew first and hold this stranger at an arm’s distance until she figured out what the hell to do.

“No,” Alyssa shook her head. “I swear, I didn’t. I thought maybe my mother would send someone to look for me, but I—I didn’t think she would go this far! I swear, Emma, you have to believe me. I didn’t know.” Every logical part of Emma’s brain didn’t want to believe her, but for some reason, she did.

Greg walked over to the window behind Barry’s desk. He pulled back the curtains just enough so he could peer through to scan the street outside. “It doesn’t look like anyone followed us.”

Emma pursed her lips, still staring at Alyssa. Everything she had learned was telling her this was a bad idea; she should cut her losses, leave Alyssa behind, and get out with her crew while she still could. But looking at Alyssa, there were no red flags being set off. She didn’t look like she was lying or hiding anything. She just looked scared.

Emma turned to Dee Dee. “Can you check the diamonds or not?”

Dee Dee glanced to Barry, who gave a quick nod. “Let’s make this quick.”

He handed the diamonds over. Dee Dee held one up and studied it through a small scope. She set it aside and grabbed another one, turning it in her hands as she peered at it. She did this a few more times, nowhere near going through the entire pile. “They’re clean,” she muttered. “Want me to keep going?”

Barry shook his head. “That’s not necessary. I trust them.” He pulled open a drawer, rummaged through it, and pulled out a few stacks of bills, lining them up on the desk as he set them down. “For you.”

Emma’s lip twitched up in a small smile. “Thanks,” she said. She grabbed the stacks of cash and split them. She shoved half into her pouch and handed the other half to Greg.

Barry stood up and gestured for them to follow him. “I’ll take you out the back way,” he said. “Just in case.” He took them into the back room and down a different set of stairs, leading them to another door. He glanced out the window. “Looks clear out there. Hurry back to your ship.”

“Thank you,” Emma sighed. “Seriously, Barry, I owe you big.”

“Just come visit more often,” he said with a wink. Then, he pushed them out the door. “Now go, quick! Fly safe.”

“Always do!” Emma said as she grabbed Alyssa by the arm and ran off down the back alley. Greg followed behind them with a hand on his sidearm, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one followed them.

They needed to get out of the Tetrus market as quickly as possible, but they also had to make sure they didn’t draw any attention to themselves. Emma kept her head down as she walked quickly, and she gestured for Alyssa to do the same. Her eyes darted everywhere they could, scanning the crowd for someone who might have recognized them while Greg trailed behind, watching from the rear.

They had no trouble for a few blocks, weaving through the crowd with ease and not raising any flags, but Emma’s eyes couldn’t be everywhere at once. As she turned a corner, she ran smack into someone and instinctively looked up to apologize. She recognized him as the man with the scar across his face that they had encountered earlier. Emma swallowed as his eyes drifted from Emma to Alyssa at her side, and a confident sneer crossed his face.

“I thought I saw you earlier,” he growled. “I was wondering where you’d gone.”

Emma clutched onto Alyssa’s arm a little more tightly as she backed them away, but after a few steps, she felt something solid behind her, blocking them from backing away any further. Nervously, Emma glanced up to see two sturdy figures behind them, glaring down at them with their arms crossed. There was a tall man with red hair, a rough beard, and an eye patch. The woman standing next to him was far more muscular than anyone Emma had ever seen before; her hair was buzzed short and her hands were clenched into fists.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said with a chuckle as she faced the man in front of her again. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I think this is just a big misunderstand—“

Emma squealed as the man’s hand lunged forward, going for her shirt collar. She quickly ducked out of the way and his hand skimmed against the top of her head.

She turned and pushed Alyssa forward. “Go!” Emma followed behind her and they were able to use their smaller size advantageously as they slipped out from between the people trapping them. Emma quickly scanned the crowd and found Greg separated from them, on the other side of these thugs. “Get back to the ship!” she called out, looking behind to see the thugs glaring at her as they turned for the chase.

“After them!” the man with the scar shouted to the other two. “We need that reward!”

At the mention of a reward, a few ears perked up, but as one man’s interest piqued and he made to join the chase, a fist landed on the side of his head, knocking him out cold in one blow. Emma’s eyes grew wide as the man turned around again and snarled at her, chasing after them.

Emma and Alyssa took off running through the market, stealth be damned. Alyssa was struggling to keep pace with her, so Emma slowed down a little and pushed her forward, putting herself between Alyssa and the thugs.

The people chasing them were large and fast, so Emma had to use the environment to her advantage. She shouted ahead, instructing Alyssa to make some quick turns, and knocked over carts and bins as she passed to get in their way. It slowed them down, but only a little.

Emma spotted a busy alley coming up ahead of them and pointed it out to Alyssa. “Cut through there! Maybe we can lose them!”

Alyssa nodded, panting, and turned down the alley. There were various shops and stands that they weaved through, and the area was bustling with customers, but after about a hundred feet, they were faced with a wall and nowhere to turn.

“Shit, dead end,” Emma groaned. She spun around, looking for a way out, but there was nothing. The crowd was too dense that there would be no hope of escaping the thugs once they caught up, and all the walls that surrounded them were too high and too smooth to scale. They hadn’t caught up yet, but there was nowhere to go. They were stuck. She turned to Alyssa, apologetic, shrugging as she reached for her weapon. They’d have to fight their way out of this one, and from the sight of those guys, Emma wasn’t too excited about their odds.

Alyssa pursed her lips, a determined look in her eyes. “Do you trust me?”

Emma looked at her curiously, hesitating to grab her gun. “If you have any ideas, I’m all ears.”

Quickly, Alyssa spun around and swiped a hat from the merchant behind her. “Can I borrow this?” she asked, and without even waiting for an answer, she turned around again and placed the Stetson atop Emma’s head.

Alyssa grabbed Emma by the arms and backed up as far as she could until she was up against the wall. She peered over Emma’s shoulder and then her eyes went wide.

As Emma turned her head to look, Alyssa caught her cheek in her hand, stopping her. Her eyes met Alyssa’s and for a moment, Emma couldn’t breathe. “Just go with it,” Alyssa whispered.

Emma didn’t get a chance to ask what she was supposed to just go with. Alyssa’s fingers wrapped around Emma’s suspenders and tugged her in for a kiss. Emma gasped as she fell forward; she braced herself against the wall, placing her hands against the flat surface next to Alyssa’s head, holding her in place there.

At the press of Alyssa’s lips against hers, Emma found herself frozen. The rambunctious market behind her died away and all she could hear was her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. Emma was still for a moment, but Alyssa’s lips were so soft and so eager that she couldn’t help but melt into the kiss. As she kissed back, Alyssa’s hands found purchase on her back, holding her close.

Too soon, Alyssa pulled her lips away but Emma was entranced and chased after them, stealing another kiss. She thought she heard a soft moan from Alyssa, but maybe she just imagined it. Alyssa pulled back once again, but this time, before Emma could kiss her again, her head turned to the side and she brushed her lips gently against Emma’s earlobe. Alyssa’s breath was hot in her ear, and a whimper escaped from the back of Emma’s throat at the touch. One of her hands that was propped up against the wall fell to Alyssa’s hair and her fingers tangled in the locks in anticipation.

Alyssa didn’t move. She held her position for another moment; their chests heaved as they both tried to catch their breaths after being chased around the market and that breathtaking kiss. And then her voice sounded in Emma’s ear. “Okay,” she whispered. “Coast is clear. They’re gone.”

Emma was immediately wrenched back to reality as she remembered what had been going on before Alyssa kissed her. Her eyes shot open and she quickly pulled away from Alyssa’s embrace. “Right,” she said, then cleared her throat when she realized her voice was a little deeper than usual. “That was— yeah. Um, quick thinking, Greene. Good job.”

Alyssa bit her lip as she looked at Emma, cheeks a little flushed, but a satisfied smirk on her face. “Thanks, captain,” she said.

Emma removed the hat from her head and returned to the stand that Alyssa grabbed it from. She held it out to return it to the merchant, but the old woman swatted her hand away. “You use it, you buy it!” She glared at them.

“Right, of course.” Emma shook her head, still a little flustered, as she fished through her pockets for some money. “How much?” The woman said nothing. Emma paled under her glare. She quickly placed a few bills on the table, far more than this hat was probably worth, but when the merchant glanced down at the money, her face softened.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

Emma gave the woman a nervous smile, then turned back around to Alyssa. She placed the hat back on her head. “What do you think?”

Alyssa stepped into her space, and Emma felt like she couldn’t breathe. She reached up and played with the brim of the hat for a moment, as she took in the addition to Emma’s ensemble. Then her gaze flitted down to Emma’s face, a soft smile tugging at her lips. “Looks good.”

Emma found herself lost in Alyssa’s eyes as she gazed up at her. She licked her lips and instinctively felt herself leaning in, the desire to kiss Alyssa again overwhelming all her senses and motor skills. And then her brain caught up with what her body was doing and Emma froze. She was inches from Alyssa’s lips, and Alyssa watched her expectantly. Emma didn’t move for a moment. “We should get back to the ship.”

“Yeah,” Alyssa agreed with a whisper. “We should.”

Neither of them pulled away, drawn closer together by some invisible force. Eventually, it was the crash of a breaking plate and the yelling of a merchant across the alley that startled them from the moment, reminding Emma where she was and what the stakes were. She let out a breath as she stepped back and grabbed Alyssa by the hand, tugging her along. “Let’s go.”

They were easily able to slip into the crowd and as they left the alley, Emma kept her eyes peeled for any sign of their friends, and the guys who had been chasing them. The coast was clear, so with the help of Emma’s new hat, they both kept their heads down as they made their way inconspicuously through the market.

They were nearing the outskirts of the market. Emma could see signs directing to the ship docks. She squeezed Alyssa’s hand. “Almost there.” There was one more row of stalls to clear and they would be out of the market and home free. She could almost see the ship from here.

The relief she started to feel only lasted a moment, disappearing when Alyssa’s hand slipped out of Emma’s grasp. Immediately, Emma drew her gun from her holster and turned around. The muscled woman held Alyssa, a strong arm draped over her chest holding her in place. “Emma!” Alyssa cried out.

“Shut up,” Muscles said.

Emma gulped as she kept her gun steady. “Let her go.”

“What, you’re gonna shoot her to shoot me? Great plan.”

Emma glared as she slowly raised her gun and aimed it at her head. “Let. Her. Go.”

Muscles just laughed. “You don’t have the stones, kid.”

If Emma’s brain hadn’t been so clouded with rage, she might have noticed that the other two thugs were nowhere in sight. She might also have heard the footsteps running up behind her before she felt the pain of a bottle crashing against the back of her head.

The gun slipped from her hands and clattered across the ground as she fell to her knees in pain. Emma weakly looked up to see the man with the eye patch about to punch her. She quickly fell prone and rolled out of the way to dodge his attack, and the momentum sent him tumbling forward, crashing into a stand right next to where Alyssa stood, trapped by Muscles, but they stepped out of the way just in time. Alyssa tried to use the momentary distraction to slip out of her grasp, but Muscles kept a tight hold.

Without a gun, Emma reached into her boot for the dagger she kept there and drew it, backing away from Eyepatch. A crowd had gathered around them, watching the scene play out. No one bothered to intervene. This sort of thing was a common occurrence at the Tetrus market, and it wasn’t the first scrape Emma had gotten into here.

As Eyepatch struggled to get up, Emma turned her glare back to Muscles. “Let her go,” she spat.

Muscles shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

This time Emma realized that there was still one party member missing. This time she heard the footsteps as Scarface charged at her from the side. She leapt out of the way just in time and swiped out, managing to just barely slash him across the arm with her dagger. Angry now, Scarface growled at her and lunged forward again.

Emma ducked under a table and quickly leapt out on the other side just before the impact of Scarface running into it sent the table and everything on it (and a few nearby spectators) all crashing to the ground. Emma chuckled as she backed away, but felt something solid behind her.

Eyepatch had gotten up and he was pissed. She tried to twirl away and slashed at him with her dagger, managing to nick him on the chest. There was a small tear in his shirt and a bit of blood began to pour from the cut. Before she could retract her arm, though, his hand caught her by the wrist and pulled her back in. His grip was strong, and he easily pried the dagger from her hands, throwing it to the side.

Emma watched as her weapon clattered across the street and disappeared into the crowd. She struggled, trying to pull herself from his grip but to no avail. Her eyes grew wide as she looked up at Eyepatch, totally defenseless. 

“Think we’ll get a little extra on top of that reward if we bring in the kidnapper?” he asked.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try.” Scarface brushed himself off as he stood. He stepped up to Emma and glared down at her. “If not, we’ll just kill her.”

Emma gulped. There was no getting out of this one. Not now, at least. Not without a weapon or anyone else coming to help. Emma’s brain jumped a few steps ahead; maybe once they were on the thugs’ ship or back on Carmuun they would be able to slip away. She was sure she could come up with a plan to get a message to Greg and—

Emma’s thought was interrupted by the sound of a familiar blast, followed by a yelp of pain and a loud crash. Everyone looked over to where Alyssa stood, holding one of those blasters that the guards on Carmuun had, while Muscles was toppled over into another stand, clutching her foot.

Emma could see the fear behind Alyssa’s eyes, but she put on the most intimidating glare she could manage and calmly stepped forward. She held her blaster with two hands and aimed it at Eyepatch. “Let her go.”

Eyepatch looked at Alyssa curiously, then looked to Scarface. After a moment, they both started laughing. Emma’s gaze was glued to Alyssa and she saw as the fear suddenly left her eyes. Alyssa marched forward with determination until she was only a few feet away from them.

“I’m sorry,” Alyssa said, interrupting their laughter. “I forgot to say please.” She pulled the trigger and shot Eyepatch in the arm.

His grip loosened as soon as the pain hit and Emma slipped out of his grasp. He roared and turned on Alyssa. “Why you little—”

Alyssa shot him again in the foot.

He cursed as he fell over. Emma and Alyssa were separated by Scarface, who stood between them. Alyssa’s hands were starting to shake.

Scarface turned on Alyssa and the fear in her eyes was back. She held up her bravado long enough to take down the other two, at least momentarily, but they were running out of time. Emma looked around quickly and swiped a decorative tile from a stand that had toppled over, scattering its wares across the ground. She clutched it in her hand and looked at Alyssa as Scarface cornered her.

Emma could see the fear beyond Alyssa’s glare as she backed away from him. She met Emma’s eyes and Emma nodded, holding up the heavy tile, hoping to somehow wordlessly convey that she was going to get her out of this.

“Hey, Scarface!” Emma shouted, and threw the tile at the back of his head.

He snarled as he spun around, clutching the back of his head. And somehow, Alyssa was thinking two steps ahead. The moment his back was turned, she tossed the blaster between his legs so it skidded across the floor and landed perfectly at Emma’s feet.

Emma immediately picked it up and shot him in the shoulder.

As he howled in pain, Alyssa ran past him and pulled Emma along behind her. “Let’s go!”

They took off running toward the ship docks. Emma looked from the blaster in her hands to Alyssa, running forward with no expression. “Did you always have this?!”

“We can talk about it later!”

Emma glanced over her shoulder to find the thugs following them again, a bit slower than before and they had gotten a bit of a head start, but they needed to get out of there fast.

Finally, Emma caught sight of The Beatrice at the end of the docks. Greg was standing outside looking for them, and when he finally caught sight of them running, he waved.

Once Greg was in earshot, Emma called out, “START THE SHIP! TELL SHELBY TO START THE SHIP!”

Greg’s eyes widened as he realized they were being chased and ran back onto the ship in a panic. Emma heard him yell Shelby’s name in the distance as he disappeared onto the ship.

It wasn’t long before they reached the ship and her engines already humming. Emma held out a hand to help Alyssa on board; she could tell that Alyssa was getting tired, not quite used to all this running and fighting. The moment they were both on board, she ran to the intercom. “Shelby, get us out of here!”

A second later, the ship lifted off the ground and Emma slammed on the button to close the door to the cargo hold. She watched as the thugs caught up with them and glared up at the ship as it rose higher and higher. Emma managed to send them a cocky grin and a playful wave before the door closed fully behind her.

Alyssa was hunched over, clutching the railing of the stairs, trying to catch her breath. “Are you okay?” Emma asked.

She approached and held Alyssa gently by the arms, inspecting her for any injuries. Alyssa shook her head and waved her off. “I’m fine.”

“Good,” Emma said, dropping her arms and instead held up the blaster. “What the hell is this?”

“That’s a blaster,” Alyssa replied, stone-faced.

Emma glared at her. “You know what I mean. How long have you had this?”

Alyssa shrugged. “Since we left Carmuun.”

“Are you  _ kidding _ me?” Emma groaned. “You had a gun on you this whole time?!”

“What? I’m not a total idiot,” Alyssa said with a shrug. “If I went with you and things didn’t go so well, I needed a way to protect myself. You’re the one who didn’t check me for weapons.”

Emma sputtered, fuming. “This plus that reward on your head aren’t going to look so great for you with the rest of the crew!”

“Hey, I saved your life out there!” Alyssa frowned. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“I would’ve gotten us out eventually.”

“When, after they brought me back to my mother and she had you thrown in prison for the rest of your life?” Alyssa laughed bitterly. Emma frowned as her words sunk in, realizing that probably would have been the most likely scenario.

“I know,” Emma sighed. The residual anger and adrenaline from the chase slowly left her system and her shoulders slumped. “We were pretty screwed back there. Thank you. I’m just saying if this relationship is going to work, I would appreciate a little honesty in the future.”

Alyssa smirked. “And how would you define our  _ relationship?” _

“You know what I meant,” Emma groaned. “You are infuriating.” She brushed past Alyssa and marched up the stairs.

“Emma—” Alyssa started, but Emma held up a hand. She still had a whole crew to deal with. They could talk more about this later if Alyssa really wanted to.

“Come on,” Emma muttered. “Everyone’s going to have questions. I’m gonna do you a favor and not tell them about this.” She held up the blaster for a moment, then put it in her empty holster to conceal it. If you weren’t looking for it, the blaster looked similar enough to a regular gun that they hopefully wouldn’t notice.

Alyssa followed her upstairs and down the corridor to the common area where everyone but Shelby waited for them. As soon as they walked inside, a cacophony of voices rang out as everyone started talking at once. Emma groaned and rubbed her forehead, unable to differentiate one voice from the next.

“One at a time, please.”

Suddenly, the ship began to rumble. Everyone instinctively clutched onto the nearest surface as the rumbling continued until they broke through the atmosphere and the ride smoothed out. All was quiet as they heard the distant sound of a door sliding open and shut. Footsteps echoed down the corridor and a moment later, Shelby appeared in the common area, arms crossed, looking very annoyed.

“What the hell happened out there?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” Nick said, eyeing Alyssa suspiciously.

Emma was about to explain everything when Kevin interjected, “I think it might have something to do with this.” He held up his tablet, showing everyone the missing person’s notice and reward for Alyssa Greene.

“Yeah, that er— that definitely had something to do with it,” Emma said.

Shelby trained her glare on Alyssa. “I knew we couldn’t trust her!”

“I didn’t know that was going to happen!” Alyssa defended. “This isn’t my fault!”

“We have a target on our backs now, all because of her!”

“We should have left her back on Fianna,” Nick mumbled.

“Hey!” Emma exclaimed. “I know this situation isn’t… ideal. Alyssa saved my ass out there, okay? I might not have made it back if not for her. Like it or not, I trust her. She’s sticking around for now.”

“Well, what do we do about this bounty on her head?” Kaylee asked.

“That makes it sound like my mother wants me back dead or alive,” Alyssa chuckled.

“I have an idea,” Greg chimed in. All heads turned to him, waiting expectantly for him to continue. “What if we just… collect the reward?”

“What?” Emma frowned.

“I don’t know, we’ll say we ran into some bandits on Gaul who were trying to sell her and we swooped in and saved the day. Alyssa goes home. We collect the reward. Everyone wins.”

“Everyone except Alyssa,” Emma said. “She doesn’t want to go back. There’s gotta be something else we can do.”

“He’s right.” Emma spun around when she realized it was Alyssa who said this. “It’s the only way to get my mother off your backs, and mine. I don’t want to put you all in danger.”

“But then you’d have to go back.” Emma kept her expression blank, but when she met Alyssa’s eyes, she knew that Alyssa could see right through it.

Alyssa gave her a sad smile and shrugged. “Maybe when my mother meets the upstanding crew that rescued me she’ll let me travel with them?” She sighed as her smile fell. “Probably not, though.”

Emma pursed her lips. “If that’s what you want.”

“I’ve already caused enough trouble,” Alyssa muttered. “And I’ve already seen more of the galaxy than I thought I ever would.”

There was a heavy silence as Emma studied Alyssa and knew her mind was made up. Emma cleared her throat as she tore her gaze away. “It’s settled then,” Emma said. “Back to Carmuun. Kevin, can you send me that notice? I’ll get in touch with Veronica and let her know we found her daughter.”

“Will do, captain.”

“Emma—” Alyssa tried to say, but Emma cut her off, continuing on.

“Greg, can find some new work for us? Let’s try to keep things above board for a bit. Stay out of trouble.”

“Roger that.”

“Emma, there’s—”

“Shelby, set a course for Carmuun. How’s our fuel level?”

“I was able to fill up on Fianna, so we’ve got fuel to last a while.”

“Perfect. And Kaylee—”

“Emma!” Alyssa interrupted again, her voice hard. “Um, you’re bleeding.”

At Alyssa’s words, Emma felt a slight tickle on the side of her neck. She raised her hand and felt something wet trickling down from what felt like a painful gash at the base of her skull, a few inches behind her ear. Emma pulled her hand away and looked down at it to see red blood coating her fingers. “Cool.” She glanced up at her crew, all looking at her with concern. “Everybody dismissed.”

Emma immediately marched past them toward her room. She heard footsteps behind her and already know who was following her.

Once the door to the common area closed behind them, Emma stood outside her bedroom door but did not enter. She muttered, “Alyssa, I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding,” Alyssa sighed. “Let me help. That’s why you brought me along, right?”

Emma opened her bedroom door and stepped inside. She didn’t close it behind her, and Alyssa took the hint and stepped in after her.

Alyssa closed the door as she entered. Emma took the hat off her head and placed it on her desk. She sat down on her chair and sighed. A lot of her body ached. She was just tired. She noticed Alyssa opening a small parcel and setting it down on the bed. “What’s that?” Emma questioned.

“First aid kit,” Alyssa said without looking up.

“Where the hell did you get a first aid kit?”

“Stole it.”

Emma looked bewildered and didn’t believe her until Alyssa turned around, a proud grin on her face. “Huh,” Emma chuckled. “First the gun, now you stole something? Maybe you are starting to fit in here.”

Alyssa laughed as she walked up to her with some disinfecting wipes and a few bandages. She stood behind Emma and leaned in to inspect the cuts. “Tilt your head down,” she muttered. Emma did as she was instructed, and when the cold disinfecting wipes met her skin, she hissed.

Alyssa worked in silence for a few minutes, and eventually the gentle sting felt a little better as each of the cuts from the shattered bottle that hit her in the head were all cleaned and bandaged. “What do you think, doc?” Emma asked. “Any new scars?”

“Not these ones, no.” Emma could hear the small smile in Alyssa’s voice. “Can I tell you something?” Emma nodded. “Okay, don’t be upset. You’re still alive. Um—”

“You’ve never shot anyone before, have you?”

“Nope,” Alyssa shook her head as she sat down on Emma’s bed. “Not once.”

“That’s why you got so close before shooting Eyepatch,” Emma said. “So you wouldn’t shoot me by mistake.”

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at her. “Eyepatch?”

Emma blushed, not realizing she had said that out loud. “Um, that’s what I called him in my head. The guy who was chasing us with… the… eyepatch.”

“What did you call the other one? Scarface?” Alyssa asked, an amused smile on her lips. Emma nodded. “What about the woman?”

Emma buried her face in her hands, embarrassed. “Muscles,” she mumbled.

Alyssa chuckled, not to tease her, but in an endearing way. “You continue to surprise me, Emma.”

Emma said nothing, and silence fell between them. She didn’t want to look at Alyssa but felt like she had something to say.

Finally, her voice broke through the quiet. “About the market,” Alyssa started timidly. “I just want to say I’m sorry if I crossed any lines or anything. I was just trying to get us out of there and I wasn’t thinking.”

She didn’t say the words, but Emma knew she was talking about the kiss. She kept her eyes glued to her shoes when she replied. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did,” Alyssa muttered. “And hey, it was some kiss, right?”

At this, Emma’s eyes shot up and were fixated on the dark brown ones in front of her. Emma couldn’t even find the words to describe the kiss. Brilliant? Incredible? Life-changing? Her eyes flitted down to Alyssa’s lips and she wanted nothing more than to kiss them again.

Just as Emma started to lean in, a soft blip from the tablet on her desk caught her attention. That would be the notice from Kevin. Emma immediately leaned back.

“I have to contact your mother.”

The hopeful look in Alyssa’s eyes faded to a resigned understanding. She pursed her lips and looked at Emma for a moment longer before she sighed, “Okay.”

Alyssa stood up and walked past Emma and out of the room without another word. Emma’s heart hurt as she watched Alyssa leave, but she shook her head. This was the right thing to do. She couldn’t be stupid or impulsive about any of this. She wouldn’t let herself get too attached too quickly, but part of her knew it was already too late for that.

Alyssa was returning to Carmuun and that would be the last Emma would ever see of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a hot minute but I’m happy to be back at this fic! Hope you enjoyed the update :) Thank you so much for reading and commenting and everything ❤️


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and her crew stop back at Alyssa’s home planet to return her to her mother and collect the reward, never to see her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is much shorter than usual and I had a bit of writers block but I’m hoping this helped me push through it! Enjoy!

The cockpit was one of Emma’s favorite places on the ship. Even if she didn’t fly as much anymore ever since she hired Shelby, she still loved sitting in the copilot’s chair, watching planets and stars pass them by almost imperceptibly, waiting in anticipation as they grew closer to their destination. Carmuun was only a small, brown speck in the distance, but she knew that they would be arriving soon enough.

“How long until we arrive?” Emma asked.

Shelby kept the ship on a steady course forward. “Not long. Veronica has cleared us for landing at her personal runway.”

“Sorry you don’t get to knock over any trees.”

Shelby glared at her. “What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing!” Emma defended. “You’re a fantastic pilot, Shelby.”

“I know.” Shelby chuckled and wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead. “Is it just me, or is it hot in here?”

Emma frowned. Now that she was thinking about it, she was overheating a little. “It is a little warm.”

Shelby tapped something out on the control screen next to her seat and skimmed through, reading various status reports of the ship. “Huh,” she muttered. “It looks like all the excess heat in the ship is being filtered here for some reason.”

“How the hell did that happen?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Emma realized it was a stupid question.

She met Shelby’s eyes and they both sighed at the same time, “Kaylee.”

Emma noticed the fond, amused smile on Shelby’s lips, but she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she stood and stretched her arms over her head. “I”ll go see what’s up,” Emma said. “Keep us on course. I’ll make sure you don’t bake in here.”

“Thanks, cap.”

Emma walked out of the cockpit and down the hallway toward the engine room.

“Klein?” Emma called out as she climbed down the ladder. “Why the hell are you turning the cockpit into a sauna?”

“That’s my bad!” Emma turned around, and instead of Kaylee, Alyssa poked her head out from behind one of the massive engines. “She was showing me how some of this stuff works and I was helping her out but then I accidentally rerouted the hot air ducts to the cockpit instead of having it filter out of the ship, and— well, you don’t care. Don’t worry, she’s fixing it now.”

Emma blinked at her. “Um, good.”

“I guess I’m better with people than machines,” Alyssa said with a shrug.

Emma nodded, unsure of what to say. Her eyes met Alyssa’s for the briefest moment, but Emma found she couldn’t hold her gaze. She looked down at her shoes instead. “We’re almost at Carmuun.”

There was a pause. Emma chanced another glance up to see Alyssa’s downcast expression. “Right.”

Emma stared awkwardly at Alyssa. This was the most they had spoken in two days, since Alyssa had went along with Greg’s idea to return to Carmuun. When Emma set up a meeting with Veronica Greene, they had some time to fill as they made their way back to Alyssa’s home planet. Emma busied herself with the ship, taking a couple of quick jobs here and there, and finding more work for after this problem was taken care of. Maybe she was busying herself to avoid Alyssa, but no one could prove that.

In Emma’s absence, Alyssa had apparently taken to spending time with Kaylee down in the engine room.

“Greene! Over here, I found the problem!” Kaylee’s voice sounded from somewhere Emma couldn’t see.

“Be right there!” Alyssa called back. She looked to Emma again. “Tell Shelby it’ll be fixed soon.”

Emma nodded and backed up to the ladder. She opened her mouth to reply but, finding herself at a loss for words, just turned around and climbed out of there.

The cockpit door slid shut behind her as Emma sat down again in the copilot’s chair. Shelby looked at her expectantly.

“Well? What did she do this time?”

“It was actually Alyssa,” Emma said. “Kaylee’s been showing her some stuff, I guess. She’s fixing it now.”

Shelby huffed. “Of course.”

“What?”

“Well you’ve been ignoring the stray cat you dragged in so she’s bored. Kaylee’s too nice and took her in.”

“Stray cat? Really?” Emma scoffed.

“What happened with you two anyway?” Shelby asked. “You were so eager for her to join the crew, I thought you’d be more upset she’s leaving.”

“Why do you care?”

“So something  _ did _ happen?”

“I never said that.”

“You never denied it either.”

“Just drop it, Gonzales,” Emma groaned. “I’m not prying into your personal life.”

Shelby raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Emma froze. “Nothing,” she said quickly. “Nothing at all.” Shelby still watched her, but Emma ignored her curious looks. Eventually she glanced out the window again to see the planet in front of them much bigger than it had been just a few minutes ago. They were approaching rather quickly.

Shelby grabbed the ship’s comms and made an announcement to the crew. “We will be arriving on Carmuun shortly. Per the captain’s request, please gather in the cargo hold before we land.”

“Thank you,” Emma muttered.

“We can finish this conversation later,” Shelby shrugged.

“I thought it was finished.” Emma stood from her seat once again, ready to make her way down to meet with her crew. “I don’t think this will take long so just—“

“Stay on the ship,  _ I know,” _ Shelby groaned.

Emma laughed as she exited the cockpit and made her way back down to the cargo hold. Kevin and Greg were already waiting there. She could hear a ruckus coming from the engine room and hoped that meant Kaylee and Alyssa were finishing up soon. Nick was late, as usual. At least he wasn’t necessary for this stop.

The ship lurched as it entered Carmuun’s atmosphere, rumbling under their feet. Kevin gripped onto the bench he was sitting on, while Emma and Greg braced themselves against the wall. The ride smoothed out eventually, and Emma knew it would be just a few short minutes until they landed at Veronica Greene’s residence.

Soon enough, Alyssa trailed out from the engine room, a bit of dark grease smudged on her cheek. She had an excited smile on her face that slowly faded as she walked up to the group gathered. “Kaylee will be down soon.”

Emma shook her head, without the patience to wait for the rest of her crew. “Don’t worry about it. This one’s pretty straightforward. Greg and I are going to escort Alyssa off the ship. For all intents and purposes, we are a merchant vessel and as we were making a drop on Gaul, we saw Alyssa struggling against some bandits, swept in, saved the day, and brought her back here. Any questions?”

Alyssa raised her hand. “How exactly did you save the day?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

Emma raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

Alyssa shrugged. “I’m just saying, you’ve got to have your story down. My mother might ask questions. Was it a heroic rescue?” Emma felt her insides churn at the flirtatious smirk on her lips, but pushed the feelings aside.

Instead, Emma glared at her. “I’ll improvise.” Alyssa’s eyes were downcast and she pursed her lips, and Emma felt bad about keeping her at a distance the last couple of days, but there was nothing she could do about it now. There was another lurch as the ship touched down on the ground, and a loud screeching sound as it skidded to a halt. Emma winced at the sound. “Everyone ready?”

Greg nodded and made his way toward the exit door while Kevin made his way back above deck. Emma turned around to join him, but was stopped when Alyssa quietly called out to her. “Emma.”

Emma froze in her tracks and slowly turned to face Alyssa again. She looked nervous, biting her lip and rubbing her elbow. She was wearing Emma’s old flannel shirt again, probably because she hadn’t exactly had the chance to bring a lot of clothes on board when she was kidnapped. Emma wouldn’t miss one shirt that she hadn’t worn in years. Emma fought the urge to wipe the smudge of grease from Alyssa’s cheek. She cleared her throat. “What is it?” she asked. “We have to get going.”

“Right,” Alyssa sighed. “Um, I guess I just wanted to say thank you.” She shrugged and stepped past Emma toward the exit. “That’s it.” Alyssa kept her eyes on the floor as Emma walked up to the side of the cargo hold and pushed the button that opened the door.

The three of them stepped off the ship to find Veronica Greene already waiting for them, accompanied by five guards. Emma didn’t recognize any of them as the two that chased them down when they were last here, so that was a relief. Even if they never got too close and were moving pretty fast, she didn’t want to risk that someone here might have even caught a glimpse of them.

Veronica Greene was an intimidating woman, Emma would admit that. She had a cold stare and a sneer that made it look like she was constantly smelling something rather unpleasant. Emma puffed out her chest and stood a little taller as they approached.

“Ambassador Greene,” she said. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you. I’m Captain Emma Nolan, and this is my first mate, Greg.”

Veronica ignored them and walked right up to her daughter, wrapping her up in a tight hug. Emma and Greg both pivoted to the side to give them some space. “Alyssa, dear, are you all right?” she gasped. “I was so worried.”

“I’m fine, mom,” Alyssa grumbled. She hugged back, but only briefly, before pushing Veronica away. “All thanks to Emma and her crew.”

When Veronica stepped back, she finally turned to Emma and stuck out a hand. “I suppose I should be thanking you for returning my daughter.” Emma hesitated for a moment, then grabbed her hand for a firm handshake.

“She saved me,” Alyssa interjected. “It was pretty brave, actually, taking on all those men by yourself.”

Emma shrugged, trying not to roll her eyes at how thick Alyssa was laying it on. “It was only three guys,” she muttered. “Not a big deal.”

“Emma, don’t be modest. It was at least twice that many.”

When Veronica wasn’t looking, Emma shot a quick glare in Alyssa’s direction. “Anyway,” she continued. “I’m the one who should be thanking Alyssa. She took good care of me after that.” When Veronica’s gaze darkened on her, Emma realized the words that had just come out of her mouth. “Um— she took care of all of us!”  _ That’s not any better, idiot _ . Emma cleared her throat. “What I mean is, a couple of us got a little hurt but Alyssa here was able to patch us up good as new. She’s a great doctor. You should be very proud.”

Emma suddenly wished that Shelby would take off and crash the ship right into her, just to get her out of this situation. She fought the embarrassed blush on her cheeks as she saw Alyssa over Veronica’s shoulder, stifling a laugh behind her hand. She was almost too scared to meet Veronica’s eyes, but knew it might be even worse if she didn’t. When she met the woman’s piercing glare, it was a tense moment, and then her gaze softened. “I am very proud of my daughter. And I’m glad she’s home safe. Thank you.”

Emma let out a relieved breath. “Of course,” she said. Veronica stepped back and resumed her place surrounded by a few guards. She looked at Alyssa expectantly. Alyssa glanced at Emma and gave her a sad smile, then stepped forward. “Actually,” Emma continued, surprising herself, causing Alyssa to pause mid-step, “and please forgive me if I’m overstepping, but Miss Greene proved herself to be very useful. We may just be a simple merchant ship, but it’s dangerous out there and we get into the occasional scrape. It might be worthwhile to have a doctor on board.”

She could feel Greg’s glare at the back of her neck, but Emma held her breath as she waited in the deafening silence for Veronica to say something. Her eyebrows were raised and her lips were pursed as glanced between her daughter and Emma. “What are you saying, Captain Nolan?”

Emma nervously rubbed at the back of her neck. “Well, I’m offering Alyssa a job on my crew, if she’d like.” Emma could tell that Alyssa struggled to keep her expression neutral, but she could read the glint of hope behind her eyes.

The silence seemed to extend into a period of discomfort. Emma awkwardly fidgeted as she waited for an answer. Veronica gave her a tight-lipped smile. “That’s very nice of you to offer,” she said, “but Alyssa isn’t interested in leaving Carmuun.”

Emma knew it was a long shot, but she couldn’t help the crushing feeling that accompanied Veronica’s answer. “Of course,” she said, forcing a smile. “I understand.”

Alyssa, however, did not seem as keen to drop the subject. “Wait, mother, can we just talk about it?”

“I’m sorry, Alyssa, but I am very busy, as I’m sure Emma and her crew are too.” Veronica turned to a guard and grabbed a small sack from him. She held it out. “I’m sure Miss Nolan would prefer to just take her reward and be on her way.”

Emma gave a small nod and stepped forward, grabbing the bag. “Thank you for your time, ma’am.”

“Please, count it before you leave. I promise it’s all there.”

The moment Emma held the bag in her hand, she knew in the back of her head that something was off. It didn’t feel like ten thousand credits, and as someone who had held ten thousand credits before, she would know. And even though a million red flags were waving in her brain, she took a moment to open the bag and inspect its contents, per Veronica’s suggestion.

Instead of a stack of bills, Emma found a small folder, which she pulled out. When she opened the folder, there were a few photos, very low quality, but unmistakably security photos of Emma and Greg from their last trip to Carmuun.

When Emma looked up again, she realized that two of the guards were much closer to her now than they had been a moment ago. She knew the whole thing was blown, but she still tried to play the part of the innocent merchant. “What’s this?” she asked with a confused laugh.

Veronica glared at her. “Do not play me for a fool, Miss Nolan. You think this is the first time I’ve been robbed? I have backup security cameras that aren’t digital.”

Emma glared at Alyssa. “Did you know about the backup cameras?” she accused.

Alyssa looked just as surprised as Emma felt, but that shock shifted into hurt. “No,” she said, taken aback. “I swear I didn’t know, I don’t—”

Veronica continued her pontification, ignoring Alyssa’s interjection. “And the time of your break-in coincides awfully close with the destruction of a mine. Explosives like that could be ruled as an act of terrorism.”

Emma gulped as the two guards stepped up to her.

Greg looked panicked. “I—I think this is all just a big misunderstanding—”

“Greg, was it?” Veronica said, addressing him directly. Greg nodded. “I appreciate you all doing the right thing and returning my daughter. That’s why I’m going to let you go. Except for your captain here.”

“What?”

“Miss Nolan will be escorted to prison, and as long as the rest of you leave right now, I don’t see the need to call the authorities.”

At that, the two guards grabbed Emma by the wrists, and pulled her arms forcefully behind her back. “Ouch,” Emma said. “Ease up on the grip a little?”

“Shut up,” one of the guards said.

“Mother…” Alyssa started, her voice quiet, scared. “What are you doing?”

Veronica ignored her and waved the guards off, who began to drag Emma out of the landing area. They were tall and walked fast. Emma’s feet struggled to keep up with their pace. 

“Wait, stop!” Alyssa ran to her mother’s side and grabbed her by the arms. “Mom, you don’t understand, I asked them to take me!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Alyssa,” Veronica dismissed. “Carmuun is your home.”

Emma figured there was no use fighting with the guards, but she looked over her shoulder, back at Alyssa. She glared at her mom, then rushed past her, towards Emma. Almost immediately, two more guards stepped in front of Alyssa, blocking her path. “Emma!” she called out. “Emma, I’m so sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen!”

Emma chuckled softly. She wasn’t sure why she was so calm right now. Maybe it was the shock. Surely the adrenaline would kick in eventually. What happened to fight or flight? “It’s not your fault,” Emma said, still in a bit of a daze.

“Don’t talk,” said the guard behind her. He bent her wrists at an awkward angle to threaten her, and Emma cried out in pain.

“Don’t touch her!” she heard Alyssa’s voice again, much more distraught.

Emma winced as the guard’s grip on her wrists slackened a bit. She let out a breath. “Don’t worry about me,” she called out, “I”ll be fine.”

The guards stopped in their tracks. “What did I just say?”

The next thing Emma knew, the butt of a blaster rifle hit her in the temple, and she fell to her knees.

“EMMA!”

As Emma’s vision went dark, the last thing she saw was Alyssa struggling against the guards while they held her back, trying desperately to reach her.

A moment later, she was out cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gotta say... I do love my cliffhangers in this fic 😬 please leave comments and kudos I love everything you have to say and thank you for reading!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma studied her surroundings; she was in a small, white cell. There were no windows or doors, and the only object she could see inside the room with her was the small cot she sat upon. Emma groaned as her head throbbed again, right where the butt of the rifle had hit her. “Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a brief little break for some writers block but we back! Enjoy!
> 
> CW for this chapter: guns and mild violence

When Emma woke up, her head was throbbing. She moved her hand to rub her temple and slowly sat up. Her eyes wrenched open to get a look at wherever the hell she was.

The room came into focus very slowly, and Emma worried for a moment that her glasses were gone. She brought her hands up to her face and sighed in relief when she felt them there. Soon enough, her vision became clearer, save for the small crack in the lens over her left eye. It didn’t obstruct her vision too much, so she wasn’t worried.

Emma studied her surroundings; she was in a small, white cell. There were no windows or doors, and the only object she could see inside the room with her was the small cot she sat upon. Emma groaned as her head throbbed again, right where the butt of the rifle had hit her. “Fuck.”

Her wrist felt light, and Emma realized that her watch was gone. She quickly checked her person and found that, while she was still dressed in her own clothes, everything she had carried was gone: her watch, her gun, her backup gun, her dagger, and the little bit of money she always had for emergencies— all gone. They had knocked her out, stripped her of everything she carried, and shoved her into this cell. She had no idea how long she was out or where she was.

_ Okay, _ Emma thought, taking a deep breath,  _ how do I break out of a cell with no windows or doors and absolutely nothing to work with?  _ Emma looked down at the mattress she sat upon and stood to inspect it, but the moment she was on her feet, her head throbbed in pain. She shut her eyes and rubbed her temples, but got to her knees to inspect the cot.

It was designed remarkably well for a jail cell; there were no bits she could break off, and it was bolted to the floor so she couldn’t pick it up. Even the mattress was just a firm brick of fabric, no springs or anything to remove from it. Nothing.

Emma was starting to feel a little lightheaded so she sat down on the bed again and stared blankly at the walls around her. Every time she thought she might start to focus on another idea, her head throbbed, and Emma wished she was still unconscious. And god she was thirsty.

This might take a while.

Just as Emma was about to give up and try to fall asleep, there was a soft beep that came from her left, and the wall slid open into a doorway.

“Huh,” Emma mused, squinting at the light from outside as two figures stepped into the cell with her, one wearing a white doctor’s coat, and the other dressed in nurse’s scrubs. The figure in the coat knelt in front of her, and it wasn’t until then that Emma recognized the familiar brown eyes.

“Emma,” Alyssa sighed. Relief washed over her features, but she didn’t relax. Instead, she began to sift through a small bag at her side. “Are you all right?”

“Um, I think so,” Emma muttered. “I just woke up. How long was I out?”

“A few hours,” said the other figure in the room. Emma looked up and was surprised to find Shelby leaning against the wall.

“Wait wait wait,” Emma said, looking between Shelby and Alyssa, suddenly very confused. She closed her eyes and rubbed her face in her hands. “Am I dead? You two are willingly working together?”

Alyssa glanced up at Shelby and shrugged. “We put aside our differences to rescue you.” She finally retrieved a small flashlight from the bag and shone it in Emma’s eyes, looking closely. Emma squinted, but had no other reaction to it.

“Also I’m the only one who never actually stepped foot on the planet so there was no way anyone here would recognize me,” Shelby grumbled. “I was really the only choice.”

“What about Kevin?” Emma asked.

“Kevin is about as stealthy as an elephant and he panics under pressure.”

“...that’s true.”

Alyssa put away the small flashlight. “Can you follow my finger with your eyes?” Emma nodded. She held up one finger in front of Emma’s face and moved it back and forth. Emma did her best to follow it. “Hm,” Alyssa mused. “I don’t think you’re concussed. Your pupils aren’t dilated and light sensitivity is only mild. It was a heavy blow to the head though, so you might be a little disoriented for a while. Can you stand?”

Emma frowned, thinking back to a few minutes ago when she grew very dizzy, very quickly. Maybe that would have passed by now. “I think so?”

Alyssa stood to her feet and gently grabbed Emma’s forearms as she did, helping her to stand as well. “How do you feel?”

Emma took a deep breath and tried to ignore her throbbing head, suddenly feeling a bit woozy. “Um, a little lightheaded.”

Alyssa turned around. “Shelby, can you help her? I’ll get us out of here.”

Shelby crossed the room and wrapped an arm around Emma’s waist, holding her upright. “Don’t go passing out on me, Nolan. I am  _ not  _ carrying your ass back to the ship.”

“Wait,” Emma blinked and shook her head, suddenly confused. “Alyssa, what are you doing here?”

Alyssa shrugged. “Getting you back to the ship.”

“So… what, did you talk to your mom?”

“Yeah, something like that,” she dismissed. “We have to hurry. Security only gave us five minutes to check on you, eventually they’re going to realize that we’re not coming back.” She turned around and peered out the door, down the halls. “Coast is clear.”

Emma took a few tentative steps forward, following Alyssa. She was much more steady on her feet than she thought she would be, but was still grateful for Shelby keeping her upright.

“How did they let you check on me?” Emma whispered as they walked down the halls. Shelby shushed her.

“I volunteer here sometimes,” Alyssa explained quietly. “They don’t really spring for medical care for prisoners. This way.”

Alyssa turned another corner and they arrived at a gate separating the empty hallways of closed cells from the rest of the jail. Alyssa swiped a card against the door. A lock clicked open and lights flashed green. She held open the door for them to step through.

“That way is the main entrance,” Alyssa said, pointing down one hall. Maybe we can sneak by, but there’s a ton of security up there. Shelby, you saw it earlier.” Shelby nodded. Alyssa pointed in the other direction. “There’s also an emergency exit this way. There’s only a few security guards on the perimeter so our odds of running into someone are less, but it’ll trigger the alarm when we leave. They’ll know something’s up, especially when they figure out Emma is missing.”

“If that way has less security, I’ll take my chances with the alarm,” Shelby said. “We’ll have a head start, I’m sure we can outrun them. Plus I’ve got this.” Shelby pulled her scrubs up to reveal a gun tucked into her pants.

“If it comes down to running, I’m not so sure how long I’ll make it,” Emma groaned.

“The ship’s not too far,” Shelby said.

“And if they think the building is evacuating, a bit of chaos might be the perfect distraction,” Alyssa added. She looked at the other two and nodded when there were no more protests against the plan. “Let’s go.”

They made their way slowly down the hall. Emma had to stop a couple times to catch her breath, and they narrowly avoided running into a few guards this way.

They quietly speed-walked in the opposite direction of some guards, but after a moment, Emma braced herself against the wall again, breathing heavily.

Alyssa turned around and saw her, a frown on her lips and concern in her eyes. “We’re almost at the exit,” she whispered. “Can you make it a little further?”

Emma met her eyes, and she wasn’t quite sure of herself but she nodded regardless. “Yeah,” she panted. “Keep going.”

Shelby’s arm tightened around her waist. “I’ve got you, Nolan.”

Finally, they reached a large glass door with a red exit sign that read, ‘CAUTION: ALARM WILL SOUND’. Outside the door was an open field, with two buildings across the field, and a chain link fence on the outside perimeter. It was still daylight outside, but the sun was just starting to dip behind the treeline in the distance, past the fence. Alyssa studied their surroundings and turned around.

“Okay, the moment we open this door, someone will probably come straight here to see what the situation is. We need to get behind those buildings for cover as soon as possible. We can… try to scale the fence once people start filing outside for evacuation and hopefully no one will notice us in all the chaos.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Shelby interjected. “No offense,” she added, upon seeing Alyssa frown. “You’re new at this. But with that many people outside, someone is  _ bound _ to see us. I brought this.” Shelby reached into her boot and pulled out a small laser. “It might take a few minutes but it’ll cut right through the fence and we can slip through before anyone even realizes Emma is gone.”

Alyssa pursed her lips, but nodded. “Okay.” She turned to Emma. “If we run, can you make it to those buildings?”

Emma puffed her cheeks and breathed out. “Yeah,” she said. “I can do it.”

“Okay,” Alyssa breathed. “On three?” Shelby and Emma nodded. “One.” She placed her hand on the door. “Two.” Her eyes met Emma’s very briefly, until— “Three!”

The door pushed open and immediately a blaring siren sounded. Emma groaned and covered her ears, the sound not helping her head. She was stunned for a moment until Shelby tugged her along and Emma remembered she was supposed to be running. She kept her eyes closed, but followed the general direction of Shelby pulling her along, running as fast as her body would allow her to run.

When they had put some distance between them and the prison itself, the sound of the alarm was far enough away that Emma was able to uncover her ears and open her eyes. They were a lot further from the fence than Emma thought they might be. She groaned; she was getting tired. Shelby was a few paces ahead of her so she pushed herself to run a little faster and catch up, ignoring the way her body protested.

Finally they were nearing the two buildings. From this distance, Emma could tell they were some sort of storage sheds. They were small buildings with equipment stacked up on the outside. Alyssa had already reached them and had pressed herself up against the wall, slinking into the shadows to obscure herself.

Emma and Shelby were just about there when all of a sudden, Emma felt a wave of dizziness. She stumbled over her feet a little, but caught herself before she fell. She had slowed down, though, and when she tried to breathe in again, she couldn’t quite catch her breath. Her feet stilled and her body felt weak, and before Emma even realized what was happening, she collapsed to her knees. She tried to push herself back up, but her arms couldn’t muster the strength.

Shelby turned around and was about to run to her side, but Alyssa caught her shoulder. “You get the fence, I’ve got her.” Shelby nodded and ran past her toward the fence.

As Alyssa approached, she caught sight of something behind Emma. “Shit,” she muttered, and hurried to Emma’s side. Alyssa’s hands were gentle as she guided one of Emma’s arms over her own shoulder and slunk one arm behind her back. Her grip on Emma’s waist was tight, and they stood up together. As she walked Emma the last few steps behind the cover of the buildings, Alyssa worriedly glanced over her shoulder.

“What…” Emma started, then closed her eyes, feeling dazed again. She took a breath before she could continue. “What is it?”

“There was a guard,” Alyssa said. “I’m not sure if he saw us.”

“Shit,” Emma muttered. “Give me a gun.” Emma tried to step away from Alyssa, but her knees were weak and her head felt dizzy. She stumbled again, falling to the ground.

“Hey,” Alyssa knelt down next to her. She held Emma’s face in her hands and brushed away the hair that stuck to her clammy forehead. “Come here.” She helped Emma sit upright and leaned her back against the concrete wall of the building. She opened her bag and pulled out a bottle. “Drink some water and stay here. I’ll cover Gonzales, okay?” 

Emma nodded dumbly as Alyssa thrust the bottle into her hands. Emma took a sip and she must have been dehydrated too because the water immediately made her feel a little better. Her face felt a little warmer and her head felt a little clearer. She drank a few more sips and looked around. Shelby was hidden in the shadows, slowly cutting through the chain link fence with her laser. Alyssa stood next to her, awkwardly holding a gun in her hands.

Emma made a mental note to teach Alyssa how to use a gun at some point, if she was going to make a habit of it.

She turned the other way and saw a stream of people starting to exit from the emergency door that they escaped from. Slowly, the yard was going to fill up. People might wander their direction.

Before Emma could remind Shelby and Alyssa of their ticking clock, a guard rounded the corner and met eyes with her. The two stared at each other in surprise for a brief moment, until he reached for his radio and Emma reacted instinctively. She jumped to her feet and tackled him.

The ruckus got Alyssa’s attention, and she rushed over. “Shit!” She aimed the gun, but was unable to get a good shot because Emma was quite literally on top of the guard.

Emma knew she was at less than half her strength as she rolled around on the ground, trying to overpower the guard who was twice her size. It wasn’t a surprise that she was unsuccessful. He quickly regained control and rolled them over, pinning Emma to the ground.

If Emma had learned anything in her career it was to play her advantages. She kicked him in the crotch.

The guard cried out in pain, and Emma was able to wriggle free and got to her feet while he was still clutching himself and struggled to his feet. She kicked him in the stomach, sending him falling to the ground again. Then, she gave him one last swift kick to the side of the head, hoping to knock him out for a little while. His movements stilled.

Once the threat was taken care of, the immediate adrenaline wore off and Emma almost collapsed in exhaustion. A pair of arms caught her from behind, keeping her on her feet. Emma turned her head to find Alyssa looking at her in shock and concern and… something else that Emma couldn’t quite place.

“You’re feeling better?” she asked.

Emma realized their proximity. Alyssa was pressed against her back, arms circled around her, face inches from her own. Her eyes were stuck on Alyssa’s and Emma felt the wind knocked out of her, unsure if it was from the brief scuffle or from Alyssa looking at her like that. Emma swallowed, and after a moment’s hesitation, she was able to find her words again. “A little,” Emma shrugged.

Alyssa’s eyes drifted down her face and landed on her lips for a brief second. Emma’s heart raced, and she cleared her throat and stepped out of Alyssa’s arms. She glanced at the gun in Alyssa’s hands as she walked past. “Safety’s on.”

Alyssa cursed under her breath and studied the gun in her hands, until she flicked a switch and nodded to herself.

“Nolan, Greene!” Shelby called out. “Almost got it.”

They joined Shelby at the fence just as she cut through the last bit of metal to form an opening they could fit through.

“Emma, you first,” Shelby said. She pried open one side of the fence, making the hole a little bigger so it would be easy enough for her to shimmy through. Emma squeezed past the fence and came out on the other side with only a few small scratches. She stumbled for a moment, but stayed firmly on her feet and waited for the others to join her.

Shelby and Alyssa looked at each other. Shelby nodded Alyssa toward the fence, but Alyssa shook her head. “After you, Gonzales,” she said. Shelby was about to protest, but Alyssa stopped her. “If I get caught, I’ll be in a hell of a lot less trouble than either of you would be. You go.” Shelby glared for a moment, then nodded. Alyssa handed the gun back to her and pulled open the other side of the fence, giving her room to squeeze through. Shelby nodded, grabbed Alyssa’s shoulder, then climbed through.

As Shelby turned around to hold open the fence, there was movement from behind Alyssa.

“Three prisoners escaping through the back fence, requesting backup!”

Alyssa’s eyes went wide as she turned around and saw the guard Emma had knocked out getting to his feet. She quickly turned back and began to climb through the hole, but just as she did, the guard’s hand caught her arm and yanked her back to the other side. The bits of fence scraped against her, tearing her coat and cutting her arms.

Before Emma could start to panic, there was a gunshot. She looked at Shelby and saw her holding the smoking gun in her hands. The guard cried out and dropped Alyssa. Instead, he clutched at the bleeding wound in his shoulder as he fell to the ground. Quickly, Alyssa slipped through the fence.

“Get to the trees!” Shelby called out, and the three of them took off running.

Emma glanced over her shoulder to see two more guards at the gate, but could not fit through the hole Shelby had cut. She felt relieved until she noticed the guns they were wielding.

“They’ve got guns!” Emma called out. “Scatter!”

Shelby and Emma had both been under the threat of gunfire before. The two of them started to veer off to the side and randomly change direction to make themselves harder to hit. Alyssa, on the other hand, had never done this before. Emma glanced over and noticed her immediate panic. Alyssa’s feet began to slow, and there was fear behind her eyes. The guards would be firing on them any second.

Emma shook her head and changed direction. She was out of breath as her feet carried her closer to Alyssa. She pushed herself faster, ignoring the dizziness that crept back up on her.

A few gunshots rang out and Emma leapt forward, tackling Alyssa to the ground. A bullet whizzed past their heads, barely missing them lying prone.

Alyssa looked pale, frozen as she lifted her head and stared at Emma. “Uh, th—thanks.”

Emma just nodded and pushed her forward. They hastily crawled ahead, getting to their feet, and sprinted the last few feet beyond the treeline, ducking out of the way as a few more gunshots rang out.

Once the gunshots quieted, Emma and Alyssa stood to their feet. Emma gave her a confident smile, but as soon as she did, the dizziness returned and she slumped against Alyssa’s side, holding onto her to stay upright.

Alyssa wrapped an arm around her, holding her close. “You alright, Nolan?”

Emma nodded weakly. She wrenched her eyes open and turned to look at Alyssa at her side. Her dark eyes were wide and full of concern, only a few inches from her face. Emma felt like she couldn’t breathe, and it had nothing to do with her minor head injury.

Shelby stepped out from behind a tree and cleared her throat. Emma and Alyssa both looked away from each other to find Shelby staring at them. “Ship’s not too far,” she said. “We should get going before they come after us.”

As she turned around and started to march away, Alyssa called out, “Hey, Gonzales.”

Shelby turned around, a little annoyed. “What?”

Alyssa pursed her lips and looked down. “Um, thanks for saving me back there.”

Shelby said nothing, but she gave a firm nod, then turned around again and continued in the direction of the ship.

As they traveled, Emma was mostly focused on staying conscious and not tripping over her own two feet. Alyssa helped her walk as they followed behind Shelby, and they made their way through the woods in mostly silence.

Soon enough, the fog in Emma’s brain began to clear. She was feeling better and realized just how many questions she had.

“Alyssa…” she started. “What are you doing back here? I thought… I mean, I didn’t think your mom would let you leave. Does  _ she  _ know you’re here? What are you doing?”

Shelby slowed down to walk in pace with them. “I was wondering all that myself.”

Alyssa looked between the two of them, then down at her feet as she walked. “It’s my fault you were arrested,” she muttered. “I didn’t— I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing about it, so I told my mother I was leaving. I told her not to come after you. I packed a few things, and I left.”

“How’d you find us?” Shelby asked.

“I figured you weren’t going to leave without Emma and you’re all smart enough to find out where they were keeping her. I… commandeered one of my mom’s security shuttles and circled around the jail looking for a clearing or some broken trees.”

Shelby glared at her. “What are you trying to say?”

“Shelby, you are an excellent pilot, but your landings are a little…” She trailed off as Shelby’s glare steeled, glancing to Emma with wide eyes. Emma subtly shook her head in warning, hoping Alyssa would get the message. “Perfect. Your landings are perfect.”

Shelby nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

Emma frowned. “And how did you two end up working together?”

Shelby looked a little guilty at Emma’s question. “Well, Nick and I were just about ready to charge in there, guns blazing when she turned up.”

“You tried to shoot me,” Alyssa muttered.

_ “But I didn’t!” _ Shelby defended herself.

“Only because Kaylee asked you not to.”

“Don’t make me change my mind, Greene. I can still shoot you.”

“Please don’t,” Emma grumbled, rubbing her temples. “So then what happened?”

“Well… Alyssa’s plan to break in was a lot better than ours, and we didn’t really have any other options.”

“Gee, thanks, that makes me feel so welcome.”

“Hey,” Shelby muttered, voice softer. “You helped me save Nolan. That’s worth something in my book.” And without giving Alyssa a chance to respond, Shelby strode ahead of them again. She turned to look around at the forest in front of them and smiled. “We’re almost there.”

They passed through another thicket of trees, then stepped into a clearing. A few of the trees around the perimeter were broken at the top, presumably where the ship had come in for landing. Emma and Alyssa exchanged an amused glance.

And there was the Beatrice, sitting in front of them. Emma though she might cry in relief.

She really was a beautiful ship.

They climbed into the cargo hold and shut the door behind them.

Emma stepped away from Alyssa, no longer needing her help to walk. She placed a hand on Shelby’s shoulder. “Get us out of here, Shelb.”

Shelby saluted. “Aye aye, captain.” Emma rolled her eyes as Shelby disappeared upstairs to the cockpit.

Emma turned to Alyssa, biting her lip, so much that she wanted to say. Unfortunately, they were only alone for a moment. Almost immediately, the entire crew came rushing down to see their captain.

“Emma!”

“You’re alright!”

“I was worried about you, Nolan.”

“Glad you’re okay.”

As she was bombarded with questions and crowded by her friends, Emma began to feel a little dizzy and overwhelmed again. She blinked at them, brain feeling fuzzy, unable to find her voice to say anything.

Alyssa stepped in the moment Emma started to feel overwhelmed, as if she could read her mind or something. “Whoa, whoa, everybody give her a little space. Emma has a mild head injury and is going to need some rest for a couple of days.”

Emma frowned. “A couple of days? Alyssa, I’m fine.” Alyssa glared at her, knowing that she was lying. “Okay, maybe my head hurts a  _ little,  _ but I’m okay.”

The ship’s engines hummed to life and the floor lurched beneath their feet as they took off into the sky.

“Are they going to follow us?” Emma asked.

Kaylee shook her head. “I sent out a dummy beacon mimicking our signal a few hours ago. It left the atmosphere and will keep heading out in one direction until it runs out of juice, so everyone on Carmuun already thinks we’re long gone.”

Nick was still frowning at Alyssa. “Is she with us now? That didn’t work out so well last time.”

Alyssa shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said. “I talked to my mom. You won’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“What did she say?” Emma asked.

Alyssa paled. “Well, um, I didn’t really give her a chance to say anything.”

“What do you mean?” Emma frowned.

“I wrote her a note.”

“You… left a note?” Greg asked. Alyssa nodded. “So she never agreed to let you leave, and you actually have no idea if she’s going to come after us again or not?”

“Well, when you put it like that it sounds—”

“Stupid?” Nick interjected.

“Hey!” Emma scolded. “Veronica Greene is not the worst threat we’ve ever dealt with. If she comes after us, we can handle her.”

“Look, I made sure she wouldn’t come after the Beatrice or any of her crew,” Alyssa said. “I think she’ll listen to me.”

“Why do you think that?” Nick asked with a glare.

“I just do.”

Alyssa’s answer was curious, but that wasn’t the most urgent thing Emma had to deal with. She stepped between Alyssa and Nick who were both starting to get a little heated. “Let’s just stay under the radar for awhile. We’ll stick to taking work in planets on the outer ring and keep everything above board for now. No stealing or smuggling. Just good, honest, merchant and delivery type stuff.”

Nick was clearly not happy about Emma brushing off the situation. “But how can we trust her? She—”

_ “She _ just helped Shelby bust me out of jail. Nick, how many times have we broken you out of jail?” Nick mumbled something under his breath. “Sorry, what was that?”

Nick sighed. “Four.”

“That’s right. Unless you want us to  _ stop _ breaking you out of jail when you fuck up, I’d just say ‘Thank you, Alyssa, for helping our fearless leader,’ and move on. Got it?”

Slowly, Nick nodded and stormed off above deck.

“We did have another job come in,” Greg said, turning to Emma. “It’ll take us to Nunnos, and then we can just stay on the outer ring until further notice.”

“Nunnos? Does that mean…”

Greg nodded. “Angie reached out. Apparently there’s a virus spreading through the planet. She needs us to pick up the medicine from Bellanous and bring it there.”

Emma groaned. “Fuck, does it have to be Bellanous? That’s right in the middle of the Ogma Cluster.”

“Apparently it’s the only place exporting the medicine,” Greg said with a frown.

Emma shook her head. “It’s fine, we can do it,” she sighed. “Angie wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important.”

“She said the virus just spread to her town. A few people have died. None of the shipping companies want to risk their people by delivering to such a remote, isolated planet with this kind of outbreak. She said she’d prefer someone she trusts to just any independent vessel.”

Emma nodded and stood up. “Tell her we’ll reach Bellanous by tomorrow and should be at Nunnos in a few days.” She looked around at who remained of her crew. “Anyone else need anything?”

Everyone shook their heads, much to Emma’s relief. She began to trek upstairs to the main deck.

“Emma, you really should rest.” Alyssa’s voice was concerned. Emma resisted the temptation to turn around and continued to march upstairs.

“Alyssa, I told you. I’m fi—”

As she spoke, Emma felt dizzy again for a moment. Her foot missed one of the steps and she started to fall backwards until Alyssa caught her by the elbows from behind and held her up. “What were you saying?”

Emma quickly pulled herself out of Alyssa’s arms. “I”m fine.”

Alyssa glared at her and crossed her arms. “You’re not. God, are you always this stubborn?”

“Yeah, she is,” Kaylee said. Emma turned around to glare at her. She saw Kevin and Greg both nodding in agreement and glared at them too.

Alyssa’s shoulders slumped and she took a step forward, tilting her head to meet Emma’s eyes. “Em, please just go lie down,” she sighed. “I’ll come check on you in a little bit and you don’t have to sleep if you don’t want to, but please. You need rest for your head to fully heal.” Alyssa looked at her with a concerned frown, and Emma was captivated by her eyes that felt looked right through her, reading her like a book, making her feel more seen than she ever had before. Emma knew she wouldn’t be able to say no to Alyssa.

Emma tore her gaze away and looked to the floor. “Fine,” she grumbled.

Emma didn’t look to see if anyone was following as she trudged her way up the stairs to the main deck and back toward her room, closing the door behind her. She kicked off her shoes, laid down, and grabbed her tablet, fully intent on staying awake and starting her search for more work at planets on the outer ring. It was only a few short minutes later that Emma felt her eyes starting to droop. Maybe she was a bit more tired than she realized.

She was fast asleep before she knew it.

When Emma woke up again, she had no idea how long she had been asleep until she checked the time on her tablet. Fifteen hours? Jeez. She slowly pulled herself upright in bed and glanced at her bedside table, where someone had left plate of toast and fruit, and a glass of juice.

Emma got out of bed and crossed the room to look at herself in the mirror. Her face had been cleaned and bandaged a little while she slept. She felt a lot better than she had the day before. Her head no longer hurt, and each step didn’t make her feel lightheaded. She grabbed the plate at her bedside and sat in her desk chair, munching on her breakfast until the ship shuddered. Emma recognized the familiar sensation as they entered a planet’s atmosphere.

At this, Emma marched out of her room to find her crew.

“Greg!” she called out.

There was no response for a moment, until Greg poked his head up from below deck. He was trying too hard to not appear guilty. Emma glared at him. “Morning, cap!”

“Are we about to land on Bellanous?” Emma asked. Greg nodded. “Why the hell didn’t you wake me up?!”

“Alyssa thought it would be better to let you rest and—”

“Greg, I feel fine. All we’re doing is picking up medicine.”

“I know, and I’m glad you’re feeling better—”

“You should have woken me, Greg.”

“We won’t even be here very long—”

“Actually, why don’t you sit this one out?”

“What?!”

The ship screeched under their feet, and Emma braced herself against the wall as it slowly skidded to a halt. “Gonzales!”

After a moment, the door to the cockpit slid open and Shelby poked her face out. “Yeah, boss?”

“Wanna come with me to pick up the medicine?”

“Fuck yes.” Shelby pumped her fist in the air. “Get me off this damn ship.” There was a loud creak from somewhere within the ship and Shelby’s face went pale. She turned to the wall closest to her and gently placed her hand against the cool metal. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that Betsy. I love you.”

Emma chuckled to herself. “Give me five minutes and we’ll head out. Greg, stay on the ship.” She turned around and headed back to her room to change.

The door closed behind her and Emma headed to her closet. She should probably shower soon, but she would have plenty of time for that on the trip to Nunnos. She kicked off her pants and slipped on a clean pair. Then she took off her top, and as she searched for a clean shirt to put on, her door slid open and Alyssa walked inside.

Alyssa caught sight of her, half undressed, and froze in her tracks. Emma’s cheeks turned red. It was nothing Alyssa hadn’t seen before, but that was when she had been treating an injury. This was different, and while Emma was embarrassed, she didn’t miss the way Alyssa’s eyes were glued to her, unblinking, her mouth agape.

Emma felt a bit of confidence at her lingering looks and cleared her throat. “See something you like?”

This seemed to shake Alyssa from whatever world she was off in. “I’m so sorry.” She blinked and shook her head, turning her gaze to the floor. “I should have knocked.”

Emma chuckled. “Yeah, maybe.” She quickly grabbed the first shirt she could find and pulled it on. “What do you need?”

Once Emma was dressed, Alyssa looked away from the floor and her eyes found Emma’s. “Greg told me you’re going out to pick up the shipment?”

Emma nodded. “I am. I’m the captain, I want to ensure the safety of my crew, whatever job we’re on.”

“What about your safety?” Alyssa questioned. “You really should rest for a few days before doing anything—”

“You’ve seen my job, right?” Emma interrupted. “Resting for a few days isn’t really an option. If I can get on my feet and stay conscious, I’m going to do my job. If you’re going to be on my crew, you’ll have to understand that.”

“Right,” Alyssa muttered, avoiding Emma’s gaze again. “Of course. I just… I don’t want anything to happen to you. I want you to be able to take care of yourself. You don’t seem to do that very often, do you?”

Emma frowned. It was true, and it annoyed her that Alyssa was able to call her on it. No one else had ever called her out. She just shrugged. “Shelby’s waiting,” she said. “I should get going.” She stepped past Alyssa and out of her room, but stopped in the doorway and turned around. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

Alyssa gave her a wistful smile. “Goodbye, Emma.”

Emma lingered for a moment. She felt there was something Alyssa wanted to say, but when Alyssa didn’t continue, she shook her head and left. She had a job to do, after all. Emma headed down to the cargo bay where Shelby was already waiting for her.

“Let’s go, Nolan!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.”

They stepped off the ship and onto the planet. It was an industrial area, with a large port where all the ships were docked. Bellanous was the main trading hub of the Ogma Cluster. Most goods were exported from here, and most people who traveled or worked off planet visited here at some point. Because trade here was a huge industry, there was a notable military presence, to thwart the presence of any smugglers like themselves.

Good thing Emma and her crew were not smugglers today.

Emma didn’t often stray to Bellanous with her crew, usually leaning more toward the illegal sort of trade, but on the rare occasion they did it felt like a breath of fresh air. Everything was usually very orderly, nothing like the obstreperous Tetrus market on Fianna. All they ever had to do was sign off on some forms, load their cargo, and head out. There were hardly any incidents, and that was exactly what they needed after this chaotic week.

Despite trade on Bellanous usually being very straightforward, Emma always made sure she was armed, no matter where they stopped. Their business could be dangerous, even the perfectly legal work. So when her hand instinctively swiped against the holster where she usually kept her sidearm, she realized it was missing.

“Shit,” Emma muttered.

“What’s up?” Shelby asked.

“I forgot my gun. They took all my weapons on Carmuun when I was arrested and I never grabbed a new one. Can you wait here? I’ll be right back.”

They were just at the edge of the port and were about to walk into the city filled with its big businesses and towering buildings. Shelby sighed. “Yeah, go. Just hurry, I’m itching to get back in the cockpit.”

“I thought you wanted to get  _ off _ the ship?”

“I did but now I miss her.”

“You’re a strange woman, Gonzales.”

“Shut up and go get a gun, Nolan.”

Emma backtracked to where the ship was parked and while her focus was on the ship, she barely noticed out of the corner of her eye, a head of curly brown hair disappear around a corner in the opposite direction. Emma frowned. Where the hell was Alyssa going?

Instead of heading onto the ship, Emma followed Alyssa to where she had disappeared.

She trailed behind, not exactly trying to catch up, but just to see where she was headed. It wasn’t until Alyssa was almost out of the port and stopped to look at a map of the city that realization clicked in Emma’s brain.

Asking Emma to take care of herself. Alyssa’s wistful smile as Emma left, looking like there was more she wanted to say. And now, she had a small bag of belongings slung over her shoulder.

Alyssa was leaving the ship, and Emma didn’t think she was planning on coming back.

Emma closed the distance between them and marched up to her from behind. “What, you weren’t even going to say goodbye?”

Slowly, Alyssa turned around, looking a little guilty under Emma’s gaze. “How’d you know?”

Emma shrugged. “I didn’t. I saw you trying to sneak away from the ship and I was curious so I followed you. It just now sort of clicked. How long have you been planning on leaving?”

“Since I left my mother yesterday,” Alyssa explained. “I— I told her not to bother following you and your ship because I wouldn’t be with you. I figured if she did want to send someone, she’d care more about finding me than about you guys.”

“But… why? We can handle your mother. I thought you wanted to join us. I thought…” She trailed off, not even sure what she was thinking, let alone how to say it. All she knew was that she didn’t want Alyssa to leave.

“I’ve already caused enough trouble. I don’t want to put you in anymore danger. I’ll find my way.”

Emma scoffed at that, gesturing to the small bag she carried at her side. “With what? Let me guess, you have one change of clothes and  _ maybe _ some food?”

Alyssa pushed her bag behind her and frowned, annoyed. “I also have a gun,” she defended.

“That you barely know how to use.”

“I’ll figure it out! I’ll find work, or I’ll stow away somewhere, and—”

“Not everyone out there is going to be as forgiving as me and my crew. You stow away on a ship, anyone else might kill you on sight.”

Alyssa hesitated. “I’ll figure it out.”

Emma shook her head, frustrated. It didn’t seem like there was anything she could do to change Alyssa’s mind, but she was going to do what she could to help. Emma dug through her pockets. She always kept a little bit of money on her person. It wasn’t much, but it would make sure Alyssa wasn’t hopeless on her own. She found the small pouch in her pocket and shoved it into Alyssa’s hands.

Alyssa looked down at the bag and opened it to find the credits inside. “What’s this?”

“It’s for you,” Emma said plainly.

Alyssa shook her head. “I can’t take this.” She tried to hand the bag back to Emma, but Emma put her hands up and stepped away, refusing to accept it.

“It’s not much, but it’s enough for a ride out of here and to hold you over for a couple days.” She looked down at her feet and put her hands in her pockets. “Um, if you’re not sure what to do, you can always head back to Fianna and find Barry. It may not be too glamorous there, but he’ll help you out if I tell him to.”

Alyssa was quiet for a moment, and Emma couldn’t bring herself to look up at her. “Thank you,” she whispered eventually.

Emma took a deep breath and found Alyssa’s eyes. “Are you sure this is what you want?” she asked.

Alyssa just shrugged. “It’s not Carmuun,” she said. “I’ll take it. It’s safer this way.”

Emma nodded sadly. “If you change your mind… you’re always welcome back on the ship.”

Alyssa’s eyes were glassy, shining, as if she were about to cry. All Emma wanted was to ask her to stay, but she wasn’t nearly brave enough for that, and Alyssa’s mind was made up.

Alyssa took a step forward and Emma lost her breath as she stepped into her space. Alyssa bit her lip, hesitating a moment, then took both of Emma’s hands in her own and squeezed them lightly.

“Thank you, Emma Nolan,” she whispered. “You’ve been far more kind than I deserve.”

Emma shrugged, not sure what to say. “Everyone deserves a little kindness,” she mumbled.

Alyssa’s lips turned up in a small smile as she looked at Emma with a wistful adoration behind her eyes. Then, she leaned in and placed a soft kiss upon Emma’s cheek.

Emma’s eyes fluttered shut at the light touch that made her heart race and her palms sweat. Alyssa lingered, cheek brushing against Emma’s, and Emma basked in this last moment with her, mind racing a mile a minute.

This was her last chance. Maybe she should kiss her. Maybe she should confess to Alyssa every thought that has been swirling around in her head since the moment they met. But before Emma could find the words that were lost in her brain, before she could recover from the shock of the gentle press of Alyssa’s lips against her cheek, her hands slipped out of Emma’s. When Emma opened her eyes again, Alyssa was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing this story and I love you all for reading and enjoying. Thanks again for all the comments and kudos and stuff 💛


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew goes to pick up some cargo to deliver. Pretty straightforward and perfectly legal. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for general violence, guns, blood, gunshot wounds, medical stuff, etc.

“Took you long enough, Nolan,” Shelby grumbled. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking mildly annoyed. Then again, she always looked mildly annoyed. “I was starting to think this was your polite way of firing me and you were just gonna take off and leave me here.”

Emma didn’t laugh. She marched past Shelby, not even stopping to wait for her. “Let’s just get the medicine and get out of here.”

Shelby followed after her as they stepped into the city. “What’s your problem?”

“Nothing. Where the hell is this building?” Emma crossed the bustling street, looking around at her surroundings. “It’s not at the hospital, right? Just the vaccine supplier?”

“Whoa, Nolan!” Shelby chased after her, flipping off a shuttle that almost hit her as she crossed the street.

“I said I’m fine.” Emma continued marching forward without looking back.

“Hold up,” Shelby said, running ahead. She jumped in front of Emma, blocking her path. “What the hell just happened? Don’t bullshit me.”

Emma down at the ground, refusing to meet Shelby’s eyes. “Alyssa’s gone, okay?”

“What?”

“She thought it would be safer if she left and got her mom off our trail…” Emma sighed. “I can’t believe— how _fucking_ selfish can she be? Now she’s going to go and get herself lost or kidnapped or killed because she’s an _idiot_ and—”

“Did you tell her that?” Shelby interrupted.

“No, of course not!”

“Maybe that’s why she left.”

Emma shook her head. “No, you— you didn’t see her. Her mind was made up. I don’t think I could’ve said anything to get her to stay. She was set on this self-sacrificing bullshit.”

“Sounds familiar.”

Emma glared at her. “What are you trying to say?”

Shelby shrugged innocently. “I know I’m not Greene’s biggest fan, but you two can be pretty similar. I can see why you like her so much.”

“What are you— I don’t—”

“And maybe if you _told her_ she would have stayed.”

Emma wanted to protest, but Shelby raised an eyebrow, challenging her. Damn, Shelby knew her too well. She couldn’t fool herself, and she couldn’t fool Shelby either. She really liked Alyssa. “It’s too late,” Emma said with a defeated shrug. “She left. And she’s not coming back. So let’s just get this stupid medicine already, yeah?”

Hopefully Shelby knew her well enough to know that she was done talking about it. Emma was thankful when Shelby kept her mouth shut and didn’t broach the subject again.

The distributor wasn’t too far from the port. Most business that had off-planet shipments were located nearby and had warehouses adjacent to the port to make it easier to load up ships with cargo. Emma and Shelby walked inside the busy office.

“Can I help you?” the woman at the front desk said.

“Emma Nolan. We’re transporting the shipment to Nunnos,” Emma explained. “My ship is in bay seven.”

“Of course. Your first mate called ahead and the medicine is already being loaded on board.”

“Perfect!”

“If you’ll just wait here, your contact should be out in a moment with paperwork and the first half of your payment. The other half will be distributed to you upon delivery in Nunnos.”

“Thank you,” Emma said.

They took a few steps away from the front desk and Shelby muttered, “This is what you do on missions? This is so _boring.”_

“They’re usually more exciting than this.”

“Great, so you took me on the boring one. Thanks, Nolan.”

“That’s not—”

“Captain Nolan?” Emma straightened up and turned to whoever called her name. A tall man with dark skin and a warm smile came out to greet her. “My name is Tom Hawkins. I’m so glad you’re able to make the trip out to Nunnos, I was worried they wouldn’t get the medicine they need.”

“I’m happy to help.”

He held out a clipboard and handed it over to Emma. “If you’ll just sign this, I’ll grab your payment.”

“Yes, sir.” Emma looked down to quickly skim the paperwork, but she noticed out of the corner of her eye, a few soldiers filing in through the front door. She glanced to Shelby who also looked a little suspicious and her hand drifted to her sidearm, not grabbing it, but at the ready. Emma signed the form and handed it back to Hawkins when he returned.

He was about to thank them when he too noticed the military presence in the room. “Can I help you?” he asked, addressing the soldiers behind them.

“We have orders to bring in a wanted terrorist,” the one in front said. Emma turned around and saw the soldiers lined up, blocking the exit. She quickly began to scan the room, looking for a way out, but they blocked all the windows too. There was a staircase behind them, though.

“Terrorist? Here on Bellanous?” Hawkins was surprised.

“Emma Nolan, and the crew of the Beatrice.”

The room fell silent. Emma was shocked. “What?” she sputtered. “Terrorist? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb,” the soldier said, aiming his gun at her. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

And then Emma remembered something from before she was arrested on Carmuun. _“Explosives like that could be ruled as an act of terrorism.”_ This was the work of Veronica Greene, she just knew it.

“Look,” Emma started, raising her hands above her head, “I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but I’m not a terrorist.”

The man held up a small device with Emma’s picture on it. “I don’t really care. I’ve got my orders.”

She and Shelby exchanged a look as two soldiers approached them. Shelby gave her a questioning glance and Emma nodded. They waited for the soldiers to get close enough, then before they could be cuffed, Emma ducked out of the way and disarmed him, chucking his gun across the room. Emma also swiped the device with her picture on it and shoved it into her pocket. Might come in handy later. Shelby did the same, disarming the soldier who tried to restrain her, and they both leapt behind the front desk for cover before they were met with a hail of gunfire.

“That’s more like it,” Shelby said, grinning, as she pulled out her gun. “Now we’re having some fun.”

Emma chuckled, wincing as the wall behind them was pelted with bullets. “Yeah, fun. That’s what I like to call it.”

“How the hell are we getting out of this one, Nolan?”

“When they stop to reload, make a run for the stairs.” It was a few more seconds of gunfire, and then, slowly, they all started to run out of ammo. “Now!” Emma whispered, and pushed up from the ground. A few stray bullets fired at her but whizzed past, missing her by inches.

They sprinted up the stairs, and knowing the soldiers were close behind them, they had to act fast. As Emma took in their surroundings, Shelby was already taking action. She fired two shots at the large glass window at the end of the hall and ran in that direction. The glass shattered, leaving a wide open exit to the street below, about fifteen feet up.

The soldiers made it up the stairs and spotted them down the hall. Emma and Shelby gave each other a quick nod, then took a running leap out the window.

Emma was easily able to tuck and roll as she skidded across the ground. Her forearms were red and bloody from the impact, but she could still run. She picked herself up from the ground and helped Shelby up. A few more bullets fired out the window and they took off running again, hoping to lose the soldiers in the busy city streets.

They weaved through buildings, past cars, and soon enough, the gunfire had grown distant until it ceased. “I think we lost them,” Emma panted, running around another corner before she stopped to rest.

“We should get back to the ship.” Shelby had her hands on her knees, catching her breath. They were both a little bruised, bloodied, and winded, but overall relatively unscathed. They were pretty lucky.

“Shit,” Emma muttered. “We should warn them.” She radioed in with her comms. “Greg! Get the ship ready to take off, we can’t stay here! We are wanted terrorists! Shelby and I are on our way back right now!”

There was a bit of silence, then her comm buzzed and the sound of gunfire rang in her ear, followed by Greg’s voice. _“Yeah, we heard!”_

“Shit,” Emma muttered. “You guys okay?”

 _“Hanging in there,”_ Greg said. _“There’s not too many of them, so we can definitely hold them off.”_

“Okay, just sit tight and get the ship ready if you can. We’ll hurry back. Tell Boomer not to kill anybody; we don’t want to become actual terrorists while trying to prove that we’re not terrorists.”

_“Stay safe, Emma. See you soon.”_

Emma looked around at their surroundings. They were relatively obscured in a small alcove, just off the busy street. She paced back and forth. “Okay, how do we get back to the ship without getting shot?”

Shelby frowned. “We’re not too far. If we can sneak by and blend in, we can get back pretty quick.” She zipped up her jacket and pulled the hood over her head. “Just keep closer to shadows of buildings or try to lose yourself in the crowd and we’ll be harder to spot.”

“You think that’ll work?” Emma asked.

“Trust me,” Shelby said. “I was a thief when I joined your crew, remember?”

“I always forget that you tried to steal my ship.”

Shelby chuckled. “My ride broke down on Gaul. Had to get out of there somehow.”

“Okay,” Emma nodded. She reached to her side for her hat and placed it on top of her head. She tilted it forward, obscuring her face as best she could. She glanced at Shelby and gave a quick nod. “Okay. Let’s go.”

They casually walked back onto the street, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible, keeping to the shadows. Occasionally, they would pass by a few soldiers on patrol and easily slipped into a busy crowd so their faces were lost amongst all the others.

It was easy enough to make their way through the city relatively unnoticed, but when they grew closer to the docks, the military presence was much more prominent— and aggressive. They approached people and turned over shops, and the front entrance was heavily guarded.

“Let’s go around the side,” Emma muttered. “Hopefully there will be less soldiers over there.”

Shelby nodded and veered off to the right. They ducked behind a building just before a military patrol shuttle passed by. As Emma backed up along the wall, she wasn’t looking behind her and bumped right into someone.

“Shit,” she cursed.

“Emma? Shelby?” Emma turned around and to her complete surprise found Alyssa standing there. She held a box in her arms, and looked at Emma in relief. “You haven’t left yet.”

Emma shook her head, still staring in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

Alyssa looked down at her feet, a little nervous. “I went to book a ticket to Fianna,” she muttered. “I almost did it too. But I— I couldn’t. I don’t know why. So I went and bought whatever medical supplies I could with the money you gave me and came right back here. I was hoping you hadn’t left yet.”

“You… you came back?” Emma gasped.

Alyssa shrugged and gave her a nervous smile. “If you’ll have me.”

“Could you two maybe do this later?” Shelby asked urgently. “We’re kind of in a hurry right now.”

“Please don’t tell me this military activity has to do with you guys,” Alyssa said with a frown.

“Okay, we won’t tell you,” Shelby grumbled.

Alyssa glared at her. “I had a bad feeling.”

“I’m guessing this is courtesy of your mother,” Emma explained. “Thanks to her, I am now a wanted terrorist.” She gave finger guns and an awkward chuckle.

“Damn it,” Alyssa shook her head. “I should have known she wouldn’t listen to me. She is the type to hold a grudge.”

“Again, can we do this _later?”_ Shelby asked, exasperated. “Right now, we really need to get back to the—”

“There they are!”

_BANG!_

Shelby’s words were cut off as she gasped in pain and braced herself against the wall.

“Gonzales?” Emma’s eyes were wide. Shelby’s face grew very pale, very quickly. She looked down to see Shelby clutching her stomach, red blood pooling out and seeping through her clothes. “Fuck! Shelby, can you walk?”

A few more gunshots rang out. Emma ducked out of the way, pulling Alyssa and Shelby down with her as they took cover behind a car. Shelby’s mouth was gaping and her breath was shaky. She wasn’t speaking.

“I think she’s in shock,” Alyssa said, studying her. Shelby was turning ghostly white, her eyes seemed unfocused, and her hands were trembling.

 _“Can you walk?!”_ Emma pressed, shaking her by the shoulders.

Quickly, Shelby gave a shaky nod. “Y-yeah.”

“Shelb, we have to get out of here.”

She nodded again. Quickly, Alyssa took off the flannel she was wearing, leaving her in just a tank top. She bunched up the shirt and held it to Shelby’s injury, tied it in place, then put Shelby’s hands over it. “Keep pressure here, okay? You’re gonna be fine.” She didn’t look so sure of herself as she spoke, but Shelby didn’t seem to notice.

Shelby absently nodded, and when Alyssa let go, her hands stayed in place.

Tires screeched on the street in front of them as a military shuttle arrived, but the moment the doors opened and soldiers filed out. Emma signaled for them to go, and they took off running. Alyssa ran ahead, still holding the box in her arms, while Emma supported Shelby and trailed behind with her gun ready. More gunfire began to rain down on them, and they quickly ducked behind another building to lose them.

“There’s a side entrance to the port this way!” Alyssa called out, and Emma blindly followed her. They weaved between buildings, but they were moving slow and leaving a trail of blood behind them. Even if they had slipped out of danger for now, there was no saying how quickly they would be found again.

Finally, they found the side entrance to the port. Only two soldiers stood guard over here, and they needed to get through, fast. She didn’t want to do this, but Emma raised her gun to the closer one and fired, aiming for the leg.

The shot rang out in the air, and he fell to the ground, clutching his leg. Before the other soldier could even turn to see what had happened, Emma fired again, shooting him in the leg as well.

With both soldiers incapacitated, they ran forward and into the port. They weren’t too far from the ship, they just had to get there, and Emma’s gunshots were sure to have drawn some attention. Shelby was starting to slow, and Emma was spending more of her energy supporting her weight than she was running.

“You okay, Shelb?”

“No, I’m not okay,” Shelby groaned. “I was just fucking shot.”

“I know, but I need you to keep going. We’re almost there.”

“I can make… it…” Shelby trailed off, and the weight in her legs gave out, dragging both of them to the ground.

“Damn it,” Emma crawled on top of Shelby, gently patting her in the face. Her eyes were half closed. “Stay awake, idiot!”

“‘M awake,” Shelby mumbled. She weakly attempted to get up, only to roll back onto the ground.

“Emma, we have to go!” Alyssa said.

“Shit,” Emma muttered. She crouched down, slipped her hands under Shelby, and lifted her bridal style. “Fuck, you’re heavy.”

“Fuck off,” Shelby grumbled.

Emma heard soldiers’ voices echoing behind her. They were getting close. She took off running after Alyssa, trying to put as much distance between them and the soldiers chasing them while she still could.

Soon enough, Emma’s legs grew tired from sprinting, her arms grew weak from carrying Shelby, and her breath grew short from exertion. Not to mention, she was still technically recovering from a mild head injury. Emma definitely wasn’t going to mention that part, though.

“You okay, Nolan?” Alyssa asked, noticing Emma’s weariness.

Emma just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She felt like she might throw up, but they had to keep going because the other option was… well, she didn’t want to think about the other option.

Finally, she caught sight of her ship in the distance, but she heard a few gunshots coming from the area as well. She met Alyssa’s eyes and they instinctively ducked to hide behind a nearby shuttle. Emma scanned the area in front of her ship, and saw two soldiers shooting at the ship, a couple more were unconscious nearby. She spotted Nick in the cargo bay, holding his ground.

“I can take down one of these guys,” Emma said, setting Shelby down. “Nick can probably get the other. Just wait until it’s clear. Okay?”

Alyssa nodded and began to say something, but Emma had already taken off to sneak up behind one of the shooters. Nick caught sight of Emma just before she jumped on the shooter from behind, and he ducked behind cover, waiting for her distraction.

Emma crept up from behind and jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck in a chokehold. She kicked the gun out of his hands and it scattered across the ground. The other guy turned to fire at her, but Nick jumped out from his cover and shot at him with a taser gun. The guy was blasted with an electrical current and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Emma grappled with the last shooter for a moment, keeping a tight grip on him, until he started running backwards and slammed her against a wall.

“Fuck,” Emma choked out, a little worried that he might have broken a rib or two, but that was future Emma’s problem. Her grip grew slack and she fell to the ground behind him.

Thankfully, before he could do anything else, he was shot and fell to the ground. Emma saw Nick standing in front of her, holding his taser gun.

“I promise I didn’t kill anybody,” he said, and held out a hand to help Emma up.

“Thanks,” Emma said. She pointed over to the shuttle Alyssa and Shelby were hiding behind. “Grab Shelby, we have to get out of here! There’s more soldiers coming!”

“What’s wrong with Shelby?”

“She was shot.”

Nick’s face paled. “Fuck.” He took off running toward the shuttle.

Emma ran back to the ship, looking around at the damage. Some of their storage containers were a little dented and dinged up, and they lost a couple bottles of alcohol that had shattered, but other than that, it was mostly intact. The crates of medicine were stacked in the back corner of the cargo hold, unscathed.

Realizing the gunfire had died down, Kevin, Greg, and Kaylee slowly poked their heads up from behind cover. “Is it over?” Kevin asked.

“Not quite,” Emma said. “Greg, get the ship fired up.”

“Where’s Shelby?”

It was just then that Nick arrived, carrying a half conscious Shelby in his arms, closely followed by Alyssa.

“Oh, shit.”

 _“Shelby?”_ Kaylee’s broken voice pierced through the air.

Emma shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “Greg, _please_ get us out of here.”

“I’m on it.”

“W-what happened?” Kaylee asked, eyes filling with tears. “What’s wrong with her?”

Emma closed the cargo hold door and then walked up to Kevin, blindly reaching into her pocket and shoving the device she took from the soldier before into his arms. “See what you can do with this.” He didn’t acknowledge her, still staring at Shelby in shock. “Kevin,” she said, getting his attention.

“Yes, captain,” he muttered. “I’ll take a look at it.”

The ship hummed to life and took off into the air.

“Emma, tell me what the _fuck_ happened, right now!” Kaylee cried out.

Emma walked up to Kaylee and held her by the shoulders to calm her down. “She was shot, okay? Right now we’re just trying to save her. Can you let Alyssa do that?” Kaylee’s lip quivered, but slowly, she nodded. Emma turned around to Alyssa. “What do you need?”

She blinked, still a little stunned after that chase. “W-what?”

_“What do you need to save Shelby?”_

Alyssa nodded and her eyes steeled. “Right,” she said, her focus sharpening. “I need a clear, clean surface to work and maybe an extra pair of hands.

Emma grabbed an overturned table. “Help me with this, Kev?” Kevin nodded and made his way over, grabbing the other end of the table. They carried it over to Alyssa, and Emma started to wipe it down, only to realize her hands were covered in blood. Shelby’s blood. “Shit.”

“It’s okay,” Alyssa said. She was kneeling by the box, sifting through it. She tossed Emma a small towel and disinfecting wipes. Emma quickly wiped the blood from her hands as best she could, and cleaned off her hands with disinfectant, while Alyssa wiped down the table. Alyssa turned to Nick. “Set her down here please.”

Nick walked up to the table and as he set Shelby down, she stirred, groaning. “Fuuuck.”

“Shelb?” Kaylee rushed to her side, grabbing her hand. “Are you awake?”

Shelby’s eyes wrenched open upon hearing Kaylee’s voice. A dazed smile graced her lips. “You’re pretty.”

Tears spilled down Kaylee’s cheeks. “Shut up,” she muttered, and kissed her. “You’re not dying on me, okay?”

Emma’s eyes went wide in shock. She knew they were together, but seeing it was still something else. She glanced over at Nick and Kevin, both surprised by this new information, but they said nothing. Emma met Alyssa’s eyes for a moment, then looked back at Shelby and Kaylee.

Shelby nodded. “I’ll do my best.” Kaylee stayed there for a moment, crouched down next to Shelby, just looking at her. Emma blinked away the tears at her own eyes.

Alyssa stepped up behind and placed a hand on Kaylee’s shoulder. “Kaylee?” she said, her voice gentle.

Kaylee immediately stood up and let go of Shelby’s hand. “I know,” she said, and backed away, wiping her eyes. She took off upstairs, crying, and disappeared into the engine room.

Emma started to go after her, but turned around. “Nick, Kevin? Do whatever Alyssa tells you to.”

They both nodded.

Confident her crew would do whatever it took to save Shelby, Emma ran upstairs and through the door, then began to climb down the ladder to the engine room. When Emma dropped down, feet touching the floor, she called out, “Kaylee?”

There was no response, save for some quiet sniffling from the back corner of the room. Emma squeezed through the small space, maneuvering around parts of the engine, until she found Kaylee sitting on the floor. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her back was against the wall as she cried.

Emma sat down next to her. She didn’t say anything for a while; she just let Kaylee cry as much as she needed. Soon enough, Kaylee’s sobs subsided and her trembling calmed and her breath came more easily. She took a few deep breaths, in and out, then turned to Emma.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice hoarse from crying.

Emma nodded in reassurance. “What can I do?” she asked. “What do you need?”

Kaylee shook her head, looking down at her feet. “I need… Shelby.” She let out another sob. “I just need her to be okay.”

“I know,” Emma muttered. “Alyssa’s doing everything she can.”

Kaylee nodded, but didn’t say anything. A silence fell between them.

“You know,” Emma said after a while, “you could’ve told me. I don’t care.”

Kaylee sighed and buried her face in her hands. “It’s my fault,” she mumbled. “I had just broken up with Nick and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings so I asked Shelby if we could keep things on the down low for a while. Don’t be mad at her.”

“I’m not mad. I just want you to know you can trust me.”

“I’m sorry,” Kaylee muttered. They fell into silence again for a moment, until she asked, “When did you figure it out?”

“What?”

“You don’t seem too surprised that we’re together.”

Emma shrugged. “I actually had no idea at first. It was Alyssa who figured it out after knowing you for like an hour.”

Kaylee chuckled to herself. “Man. Are we that obvious or are you all that oblivious?”

“Probably a little bit of both.”

They laughed together for a moment, until it died down into a somber silence. Kaylee leaned against Emma’s shoulder and let out a shaky breath. “I can’t lose her.”

Emma put an arm around Kaylee and stroked her hair, hoping to comfort her friend. “I know.”

They sat there for a while, on the floor of the engine room. Emma wasn’t sure how long. She didn’t mind, though. She was exhausted, and while Kaylee didn’t want to talk anymore, she needed someone there for her. And Emma wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone either.

Eventually, Emma heard footsteps on the ladder leading down to the engine room, and someone dropped onto the floor.

“Kaylee?” Alyssa called out. “Emma?”

Kaylee shot up from the floor so fast, she almost hit her head on a bit of the engine. She ran toward the front of the room, and Emma quickly followed behind.

Alyssa stood at the base of the ladder, looking around. Her white tank top had been stained with blood, her hair was tied up in a ponytail, out of her face, and there was a sheen of sweat on her forehead. She looked stressed and exhausted, but mostly relieved.

“What is it? How is she?”

Alyssa held Kaylee gently by the shoulders. “Shelby is going to be fine.”

Kaylee sobbed in relief and threw her arms around Alyssa. “Really?”

Alyssa nodded and hugged her back. “Yeah. She got lucky. The bullet didn’t tear through any major organs. I removed it and stitched her up and gave her something for the pain. She’s asleep right now, and I had Nick carry her up to her room. It’ll take a while for her to fully recover, but she’s going to be fine.”

“Oh, thank god,” Kaylee cried. She pulled away from Alyssa, wiping her tears away. “Um, I’m gonna go sit with her. I know she’s asleep I just… I need to see her.” She gave Alyssa another quick hug. “Thank you.”

Kaylee climbed up the ladder and disappeared upstairs, leaving Emma and Alyssa alone in the engine room. Emma bit her lip, so overwhelmed with the day’s events, both emotionally and physically. And when Alyssa looked at her, she found it that much harder to hold herself together.

Emma had to be there for her crew. She had to be the strong one, the figurehead, the fearless leader. Her job was to hold them up when they couldn’t do it themselves. So when was Emma allowed to fall apart?

Alyssa watched her with a concern that was unfamiliar to Emma. It unsettled her how vulnerable she felt under Alyssa’s gaze, but also comforted her at the same time. “How are you doing?” Alyssa asked.

And with those words, Emma couldn’t hold back anymore. She let out the sobs that had been threatening to spill since she arrived at the ship. Alyssa tentatively stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Emma, holding her as she cried and cried. Emma felt safe within the comforting warmth of Alyssa’s embrace. She buried her face in Alyssa’s shoulder and instinctively circled her arms around Alyssa’s back, clutching onto her like a lifeline.

Emma felt herself slowly relax as Alyssa’s fingers ran through her hair. She hummed soothingly in Emma’s ear, calming her down.

Eventually, her sobs subsided. She caught her breath. She stopped shaking. But she didn’t leave Alyssa’s arms.

“I’m really glad you came back,” Emma mumbled, her face pressed against the skin of Alyssa’s neck, relishing in the warm comfort she felt.

Alyssa sighed; her breath tickled Emma’s ear as she exhaled. “Me too.”

Emma wasn’t sure she could let go even if she wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry. At least this one didn’t end on a cliffhanger! As always, thank you for reading and commenting. I love you.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There’s been… a bit of a misunderstanding,” Emma explained. “I’m, uh, technically a wanted terrorist right now, as is the rest of the crew.”
> 
> “What?!”

When they next had a crew meeting, Shelby’s absence was apparent. Everyone knew she was going to be okay, but there was a hole of stoic quips and feigned annoyance that only Shelby could fill. The group was eerily silent as they gathered around the table in the common area. Kaylee’s eyes were red from crying, Greg and Kevin looked exhausted, and Nick was quiet and on time for once.

And Alyssa, well, this was her first official team meeting with her as an actual member of the team. What a way to be thrown into it.

Emma looked around at the faces of her crew— her family. They were all unsure and scared, and it was Emma’s job to reassure them. She cleared her throat and all eyes looked up to her.

“So,” she started, “yesterday sucked.”

This seemed to ease the tension in the room a little bit. Greg chuckled, and Alyssa’s lips turned up in a small smile.

“I know that there was a lot happening and some of you might still be a little confused. Basically… somehow we are all now wanted as terrorists.”

“What?” Kevin gasped. “My mom’s gonna think I’m a terrorist?!”

Alyssa shook her head. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I should have known my mother would hold a grudge.”

“It’s not your fault,” Emma said. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. And you saved Shelby’s life, so we really owe you.”

Kaylee nodded. “Seriously,” she muttered. “Thank you, Alyssa.”

Alyssa reached across the table and gave Kaylee’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Of course.”

“Um, continuing on, I think our best course of action at this point is to leave the Ogma Cluster indefinitely. We’re wanted terrorists here, but I doubt Veronica Greene has the power to spread that to any of the neighboring systems. We drop the medicine at Nunnos and since we’ll be on that side of the system, we’ll head to Totec at the border of the Aztalan system. It’s about a week’s journey, so when we’re in Nunnos we can also make it a quick stop for gas and supplies as well. We won’t be able to stay too long, obviously. People are looking for us. But—“

“Wait, back up,” Greg interrupted. “You still want to go to Nunnos?”

Emma frowned at him, confused. “Well, yeah. We have to drop off the medicine.”

“Emma, I’m sure every police force and military agent in this solar system knows we’re heading to Nunnos. We’re toast if we stop. We have to get out of the Ogma cluster now!”

“People are dying, Greg,” Emma said. “I’m not gonna sit on my ass and let that happen when we can help.” Greg didn’t seem convinced. Emma sighed and continued. “Look, it’s Angie. She knows we’re not terrorists. I’ll call her before we arrive and maybe she can help us avoid getting arrested or killed.”

“Even with all the help we can get, the odds of us getting arrested or killed are still high.”

“You don’t know that. We’re pretty capable.”

“But—“

“If anyone disagrees I can just drop you off on Nunnos and we’ll be on our way. Any other questions or concerns?” Emma glared at Greg and scanned over the rest of the crew. Nobody spoke up. “Good. We arrive day after tomorrow. Best prepare yourselves.”

Emma marched out. She headed for her room, not in the mood to talk to her crew any longer. Thankful that nobody followed her, she flopped down on her bed and sighed.

It was a shitty situation, and for the first time in her life Emma felt stuck. Helpless.

Well, maybe not the first time, but she hadn’t felt like this in a long while. She was sure they would have no problem finding work and making a living elsewhere. They had done a bit of work in the Aztalan system, and she even had a contact on Totec—another old crew member of her grandfather’s. Emma wasn’t worried about where they were going, but about what they were leaving behind.

Betsy was getting old, and though she was still quite healthy for her age, Emma had no idea how long they would be gone and no idea when they would be back. When would she be able to return to Indigo Tethra? If anything happened to Betsy in their absence and Emma wasn’t there, she would never forgive herself.

She hadn’t imagined their last visit to her home could be the last time she saw her grandmother but it was looking like a possibility, and just the thought was terrifying.

Regardless, Betsy deserved to know what was going on. Emma rummaged through her desk drawer and pulled out her tablet, then settled on her bed. She sat up against the wall and rested the device on her knees as she called her grandmother.

The line took a few moments to connect, but soon enough, there was a beep and Emma felt nothing but relief when she saw her grandma’s face smiling back at her from the screen.

“How’s my favorite granddaughter?” Betsy asked.

“I’m your only granddaughter,” Emma laughed.

“I guess that makes you my least favorite too.” Emma glared at her while Betsy chuckled at her own joke. “I miss you, kiddo.”

“I miss you too, gran,” Emma sighed.

Betsy frowned. “What’s bothering you?” she asked. She had always been far too adept at reading Emma’s mood.

Emma chuckled. “That obvious, huh?”

“You’ve never had the best poker face, dear. I know when something’s upsetting you.”

Emma hesitated, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. “Um, I have to tell you something.”

“Is everyone okay?” Betsy asked, immediately worried. “Is Greg—“

“Everyone’s fine,” Emma quickly interjected, reassuring her. “Well, mostly everyone is mostly fine. Shelby did get shot, but she’s alive thanks to Alyssa.”

“Emma, what is going on?”

“There’s been… a bit of a misunderstanding,” Emma explained. “I’m, uh, technically a wanted terrorist right now, as is the rest of the crew.”

“What?!”

“You know it’s not true! But that notice is being broadcast all across the Ogma Cluster and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” Emma frowned. “We have to leave the system, and I don’t know when we’re going to be able to come back.”

Betsy was quiet for a moment. “Oh.” She sounded so resigned and disappointed, but not surprised. It took everything in Emma to not burst into tears right then and there.

“I’m sorry, gran,” Emma sighed, a tear running down her cheek. “You know how it can be.”

“No, I— I understand,” she stuttered. “It’s dangerous. You need to keep yourselves safe. That’s all I want. You’ll still be able to call, yes?”

“Of course! I’ll call you every day, and I’ll let you know the moment we’ll be back.” Emma’s voice cracked as she held back a sob, but a single tear trickled down her cheek. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, sweet pea.”

There was a knock at the door and a moment later, Alyssa stepped inside. She froze when she noticed Emma was on a call. “I— I’m sorry.“

“It’s okay,” Emma mumbled, quickly wiping her eyes. “Um, gran, I have to go.”

“Goodbye Emma. Thanks for calling.”

“Bye.”

The call ended. Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Em, are you alright?” Alyssa asked tentatively.

Emma nodded. “I’m fine.” She took another deep breath and opened her eyes. She jumped off the bed and looked to Alyssa. “What’s up?”

Alyssa frowned. Emma knew she didn’t quite believe her. Thankfully, she didn’t ask any questions.

“Shelby’s awake,” Alyssa said.

Relief washed over Emma. She was thankful for a bit of good news on this shitty day. 

“Thanks for letting me know,” Emma dismissed.

Alyssa lips twitched into a small frown, seemingly disappointed Emma wasn’t sharing more, but a moment later it was gone. She nodded and backed out the door, leaving Emma alone once again.

Emma made her way down the hall to Shelby’s room and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

It was Kaylee’s voice that answered.

Emma opened the door and saw Shelby sitting in bed, looking like shit. She was still pale and gaunt, and her hair was a rumpled, knotted mess. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were dark bags underneath. The oversized t-shirt she wore had ridden up, exposing the bandages on her stomach. Kaylee sat at her bedside, holding her hand.

“Hey cap.” Shelby’s voice was weak, and she coughed lightly after she spoke. Emma could tell it was a struggle for her to just be awake.

“How you feeling?”

“Like shit.”

Emma chuckled. “Look like it too.” She turned to Kaylee. “Could we have the room for a minute?”

Kaylee looked like she was about to protest, but Shelby grabbed her hand. “It’s okay. I’ll still be here.”

“Fine,” Kaylee grumbled. She pressed a quick kiss to Shelby’s forehead, then walked out.

Emma trudged forward and sat down on the seat that Kaylee had left unoccupied. Shelby tried to sit upright when Emma came over, but groaned and clutched her stomach.

“Hey,” Emma stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Just lie down, it’s fine.”

Shelby nodded, lying back down. “So what did you want to talk about, boss?”

Emma looked down at her feet, frowning. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” Emma repeated. “I should’ve been paying more attention, I shouldn’t have let you—“

“Nolan, this isn’t your fault. I got shot. It’s happened before, it’ll probably happen again.” Shelby briefly groaned in pain and took another breath, but then continued on. “Granted, this one was pretty bad. I guess I’m lucky you decided to kidnap that doctor then, huh?”

Emma chuckled softly. “Yeah, we’re all pretty lucky she decided to stick around,” she mused. “You gonna try to get along with her now?”

“Nah,” Shelby shrugged. “I just have to save her life at some point so I don’t owe her anymore.”

“I’m literally paying her to save  _ your _ life.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Shelby waved her off. “So, uh, Kaylee told me you knew about us?”

“I did,” Emma said.

Shelby frowned. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Emma muttered, shaking her head. “Kaylee explained everything.”

Shelby sighed, gazing up at the ceiling. “I joined your crew because it was a good job. I didn’t come here to make friends or… fall in love.” Shelby had a small smile on her lips, more genuine a smile than Emma had ever seen on her before. “But I’m glad I did.”

Emma raised an eyebrow at her. “Love?” she teased.

Shelby turned her head and glared. “If you tell her I said that I’ll kick your ass, Nolan. I can do it from this bed.”

“I believe you,” Emma laughed. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

“You know,” Shelby started, giving Emma a pointed look, “sometimes having someone you care about is better than pushing everyone away.”

Emma frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just saying, if the doctor is sticking around—“

“If you finish that sentence you’re fired.”

Shelby rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she grumbled. “So what’s the plan?”

“The plan is  _ you  _ rest while  _ we _ drop the medicine and get the fuck out of this solar system.”

“Still going to Nunnos?” Emma nodded. Shelby winced. “Good luck. That Boann Belt is a bitch.”

Emma groaned. “I forgot about the asteroids.”

Nunnos was a difficult to reach planet for a plethora of reasons. Aside from the fact that it was located at the very edge of the Ogma Cluster, it was also separated from all the other planets by an asteroid belt. It was fairly manageable to navigate if you took your time, but considering Emma and her crew were on the run, they didn’t exactly have all the time in the world on their hands.

And since they were currently down a pilot, Emma would have the fun job of navigating through it.

“Can’t say I envy you, cap,” Shelby laughed. “Just don’t get her too scratched up.”

“Hey, I’ve been flying this ship longer than you have,” Emma defended. “I’ll be fine.”

As Shelby started to reply, her words disappeared into a yawn.

“You should rest up,” Emma said. She patted the bed and stood, backing toward the door.

“Yeah, getting shot is fucking exhausting,” Shelby muttered. “Could you, uh, send Kaylee back in?”

Emma nodded, giving Shelby a soft smile. “Of course. I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.”

Shelby flipped her off.

The next couple of days on the ship were tense. Emma spent most of her time in the cockpit. They already had the coordinates set for Nunnos, but Emma wanted to keep an eye on the radar and try to avoid any ships that they might pass by.

Emma missed flying. She was glad they found Shelby, but there was just something magical about being alone in the cockpit, listening to the hum of the engines, staring out at the vast expanse of space in front of her. She always lost track of time, alone in the pilot’s chair.

Emma wasn’t even sure how long she had been alone, but the whiz of the door sliding open didn’t even faze her. Emma heard the approaching footsteps, but didn’t bother to look at who it was. The clack of a plate being set on the floor was what finally drew her attention.

On the floor next to her was a plate of grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and a salad. She glanced up and saw Alyssa sitting on the armrest of the copilot’s chair, facing her.

“You missed dinner.”

“Sorry,” Emma muttered. “Lost track of time.”

“Dinner was three hours ago.”

“I guess I  _ really  _ lost track of time.”

Alyssa’s fond smile was almost as breathtaking as the stars scattered outside the window. “You don’t have to hide in here, you know.”

“I’m not hiding,” Emma said, a little too quickly. “I like flying. And Shelby’s not here to be annoying, so I might as well enjoy it.”

It was almost as if Alyssa could tell she was deflecting. “No one blames you for what happened.”

Emma grew quiet. Nail on the head.

Alyssa didn’t continue, letting the hum of the engines fill the silence between them until Emma was too unsettled to let it go on any longer.

“I don’t care if they don’t blame me,” Emma said with a shrug.  _ “I _ blame me. This is my crew. My ship. My responsibility.”

“Emma.” Alyssa reached a hand out and placed it on top of Emma’s. The simple touch felt like electricity in her fingertips. Emma swallowed and her eyes met Alyssa’s, seeing every ounce of genuine concern that was held in them, and a spark of something else that drew Emma in. “This isn’t all on you, okay? It’s on me, and on my mother. Mostly my mother. God, she really is a piece of work—“

A soft blip on the radar reluctantly drew Emma’s attention. “Shh,” she muttered, cutting Alyssa off. “Hold on.” She leaned over, studying one of the screens next to her.

“What is it?”

“Another ship.”

“Oh.” Alyssa withdrew her hand, suddenly tense. “Are… are they looking for us?”

“I don’t know,” Emma frowned. She grabbed the controls, taking them off autopilot. “I’m gonna keep to the edge of their readings and hope they don’t follow us.”

Alyssa nodded. Emma held her breath as she turned the ship ever so slightly. She didn’t want to draw attention by seeming like they were immediately changing direction, but she wanted to keep a decent distance.

The cockpit was filled with a tense silence as they watched the blip at the edge of their radar beep, beep, beep as it crossed the screen, until finally it disappeared from view.

Emma let out a breath of relief. “We’re clear.”

“Has that been happening all day?” Alyssa asked.

Emma shrugged. “A couple times.” Alyssa watched her with a furrowed brow, studying her. Emma couldn’t read her expression, but something in it scared her. As Alyssa opened her mouth to speak again, Emma sighed, trying to cut her off. Whatever Alyssa wanted to talk about could wait. She grabbed the plate of food from the floor and set it on her lap. “I promise I’ll eat. And I promise I’ll get some sleep.”

Alyssa pursed her lips for a moment. “Okay,” she muttered, resigned. She stood up and gently squeezed Emma’s shoulder. “Don’t work too hard, captain.”

Emma didn’t reply. Alyssa took one last look out the glass window before she left. She listened to Alyssa’s footsteps disappear from the room and the whir of the door as it slid shut behind her.

The journey to Nunnos seemed to drag on because of the high tensions throughout the ship, but finally they started to approach the Boann Belt. They were getting close.

Emma sat alone in the cockpit; they were near enough that it was time to take the ship off autopilot so she could navigate through the field of asteroids. She called ahead to Nunnos just before they reached the asteroid belt, as she usually did, to let Angie know they had almost arrived.

“They have reinforcements coming, you know,” Angie informed her. “And I was instructed to report it if I heard from you.”

Emma sighed, burying her face in her hands. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“I’ll have to tell them something,” Angie said. “But I can probably buy you a little time.”

“You’d do that?”

“Of course, Emma. Your grandfather helped me settle down out here with my daughter. You’re like family to us. You know that.”

Emma smiled. “How is Avery?”

“She’s twelve now,” Angie grinned. “Smarter than I ever was at her age.”

“I wish I could see her.”

“Me too. She misses her Auntie Emma,” Angie sighed. “Look, they’re monitoring my transmissions. They’ll know you called eventually and I’ll be in trouble if I don’t report it. I can give you an hour, but once I tell them they’ll be here pretty quickly.”

“I just need to get us through the belt and we’re there. We’ll drop the medicine and get out of your hair.”

“I’ll have some people on standby for pickup. We’ll get you your payment and refuel your ship so you can get out of here.”

“Thank you, Angie. I owe you big.”

“Hey, you’re doing me a favor. We need this medicine,” Angie said. “Once this blows over, just make sure to come back and visit.”

“Can’t wait.”

The ship’s radar beeped, and Emma glanced over. There was a large, unknown object that was within radius, which could only mean one thing: they were approaching the asteroid belt.

“I gotta go, Angie. Thank you again.”

“Stay safe, Emma.”

“I’ll do my best.”

The call ended, and Emma slowed their speed and maneuvered the ship, keeping an eye out for asteroids and any smaller bits to avoid that might damage the ship. She grabbed the radio and intercommed out to the rest of the ship.

“Attention crew,” she announced, “we are approaching the Boann Belt. Arrival in Nunnos should be a little under an hour. Make any last preparations you need, we won’t be staying long.”

Emma squinted out the front window, and in the distance she saw a large, floating object growing nearer. Its rocky texture and rubicund surface were barely visible from the light of the nearest star; Nunnos was about as far from the center of the Ogma Cluster as you could get.

They had only crossed the Boann Belt a handful of times, but Emma was unfortunately familiar with the damage these asteroids could do if they ran into one. She slowed down a bit more and carefully veered to the left, maneuvering around the massive rock.

As Emma rounded past it, more and more dark specs became visible beyond it: countless more asteroids they would be making their way through. It was going to be a long trip.

She took her time, cautiously weaving between asteroids, being extra cautious to not stray too close. They were on a time crunch, but rushing through this would only damage the Beatrice, and they couldn’t afford that right now.

There was a knock on the cockpit door before it slid open and someone stepped inside.

“How you doing, Em?” Greg asked.

“Fine,” Emma said. “As long as nobody distracts me.”

“Do you need some relief? I can take us the rest of the way.”

“I can fly my own damn ship,” Emma snapped, glancing over at Greg.

“So can I,” Greg defended. “Grandpa taught me too.”

A loud rumble caught their attention. One of the asteroids appeared to be shifting in front of them, making their passage between two a bit more narrow. They were looking to get crushed between two asteroids if Emma didn’t act fast.

“Shit,” she muttered. “I think it split.”

Emma veered to the left to avoid it, but the mass of rock kept coming at them. She accelerated briefly, hoping to get out of this tunnel before the two asteroids collided. She almost made it too, but at the last moment, the whole ship jolted with the impact and there was a loud screech as the asteroid scraped against their side just before they were free.

As soon as they were out of harm’s way, Emma slowed down and let out a shaky breath.

“Damn it.”

“It’s fine,” Greg reassured her. “It’s just a scratch. Easy to fix.”

Emma ignored him. She gripped the controls tighter and focused her attention ahead of her, continuing to fly.

“Let me take over. We’re almost there and you should get ready for the drop so we can be out of there as quickly as possible.”

Emma wanted to argue, but Greg had that determined look on his face that told her he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Stubborn ass. It must run in the family or something.

“Fine,” Emma sighed. She nodded to the copilot’s seat. Greg sat down at the ready and Emma switched over the controls to him. “Thanks.”

As Emma made her way down to the cargo hold, the rest of the crew appeared to be waiting for her, waiting for instructions. Kaylee and Nick sat on top of some crates, while Alyssa paced back and forth across the floor.

“What do you need, Cap?” Kaylee asked, standing up as Emma walked inside.

“You and Greg need to gas up the ship and grab any quick supplies you can. Angie said she’d have people on standby to help so look for them.” She turned to Nick, who was still sitting but he looked ready to go. “Boomer, I’m gonna need you with me just in case shit goes sideways while we drop the medicine.”

He nodded and cocked his gun with a small smile, excitement in his eyes at the possibility of another gunfight.

“And me?” Alyssa asked.

“I need you safe on the ship,” Emma said.

“Aw, you need me?” Alyssa joked.

Emma’s cheeks flushed. “Shut up,” she muttered. “This is serious.”

“I know,” Alyssa sighed, the light, flirtatious tone disappearing quickly. “I’ll be ready, just in case anyone gets hurt.”

“Thank you.”

They waited in the cargo hold, and thankfully it didn’t feel like there were anymore close scrapes with asteroids. Eventually, the ship shuddered as they entered the atmosphere of Nunnos. Emma stood to her feet. A few crates were already loaded onto dolleys to wheel out.

_ “Docking at Port B6,”  _ Greg’s voice called out over the intercom.  _ “Brace for landing.” _

Once the ship touched down, Emma wrapped her coat around herself a little more tightly. Nunnos was wintery and cold pretty much year round. She opened the hatch and a gust of icy wind blew into the ship, causing everyone to shiver as they marched off, attending to their jobs.

The port was almost empty, which Emma assumed was because of the current weather conditions. There was heavy snowfall flurrying around them. Emma ignored the sting of the bitter cold and rubbed her gloved hands together. She squinted through the white flakes obscuring her vision to make out the figures standing at the docks and walked in that direction.

To Emma’s surprise, Angie was waiting for her outside the ship.

Emma wheeled her cart up to be unloaded then rushed over to hug Angie. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Making sure this gets to you safely,” Angie said, holding up a stack of bills.

“Thank you,” Emma muttered. “We didn’t get the first half because, well, people started shooting at us.”

“Oh, trust me, I get it,” Angie laughed heartily. “Did your grandfather ever tell you about the Duke he was doing a job for that I seduced so we could break into his personal safe?”

“He did not!”

“Stole a quarter million from him and he chased us across three solar systems.”

“Priceless,” Emma snorted.

“Now, we don’t have a lot of time for small talk,” Angie urged. “I already notified the police you contacted me. They’re on their way and could be here any moment.”

Emma nodded. “You should get out of here,” she said. “Stay safe. We’ll take care of things here.”

Angie pulled her in for another quick hug. “Always good to see you, kid. Give Greg my love.”

“And tell Avery I said hi.”

And with that, Angie disappeared into the snow.

It took Emma and Nick a few trips to unload all the crates from the ship, but finally, she wheeled out the last set. As she stacked the last of them with the rest of the boxes, a loud screech of tires on wet pavement was heard over the roar of snowfall.

Emma spun around, reaching for her sidearm. She saw the dark shapes of a few trucks sliding to a halt through the flurry, surrounding them, and people began to pour out of the vehicles. She wiped at her glasses that had grown wet and splotchy from her time in the snow, but that didn’t help much. She couldn’t tell how many there were.

She didn’t even know they had guns until a shot rang out through the blanket of snow, splintering into a crate that was less than a foot from her head.

Emma activated the comm in her ear to warn the rest of the crew. “We’ve got company!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a hot minute. Apologies. But we back babey! Thank you for reading. Comments and kudos are always appreciated and give me the motivation to keep writing 💛


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Violence, blood, some medical shit, mentions of child abuse.

The hail of gunfire came just after Emma leapt behind the crates for some cover. Unfortunately, that meant that these boxes filled with medicine were getting torn apart. Bullets ricocheted, splintering the wooden crates, sending pieces flying everywhere. Emma ducked, getting pelted with a spray of wood chips. Hopefully the medicine inside was well-protected enough that it would be fine, but she didn’t want to take that chance. She had to get away from them.

When the gunfire eased up, Emma peered over the top of one of the crates, looking for the Beatrice. In the distance she saw Nick stepping out of the ship, holding something large. Emma wondered what it was for a moment, until there was a loud bang as he launched a rocket at one of the trucks.

The explosion rang through the port and warmed the frigid air.

Emma took the opportunity while most of the shooters were incapacitated to rush out from behind the crates. She sprinted for the ship at top speed, praying that they were still recovering from the explosion long enough to give her time to get back to cover unscathed.

Another hail of gunfire rang out just as Emma rushed onto the ship, but she leapt inside just in time. She looked around at her crew. Kevin handed Nick more ammo to reload his rocket launcher, Kaylee was running downstairs to the engine room, and Alyssa rushed to her side.

“Emma, you—“

“Where’s Greg?” Emma asked, frantically looking around.

“He’s still outside, but—“

“Greg, where the hell are you?!” Emma said into her comm.

_ “I can’t get through!”  _ Greg said. _ “Too much gunfire!” _

“I’m on it!” Nick said. Gun loaded, he stepped out from cover and fired another rocket, blowing up another truck. He whooped with joy, fire lighting up in his eyes.

Emma turned to Kevin. “Close the doors as soon as Greg is inside!” she called, and ran up the stairs.

“Emma, wait!” Alyssa rushed after her.

“I have to get us out of here!” Emma said, climbing through the hatch to the main deck of the ship.

“Damn it, Emma, you were shot!”

Emma stopped in her tracks just before reaching the door to the cockpit. “What?”

“Your shoulder!”

Alyssa had a frantic look on her face. Emma followed her eyes and reached over her shoulder to feel a rip in the fabric of her coat. She withdrew her hand and saw it was covered in blood. Emma stared at her red fingers for a moment, then shrugged. That was a problem for future Emma.

“It’s fine,” she brushed off, then turned around and rushed into the cockpit.

“It is  _ not _ fine!” Alyssa fumed, storming in after her. “You’ve been shot and you’re bleeding! I need to take a look at it to make sure you’re not going to die!”

“I feel fine!” Emma sat down in the pilot’s seat and started the ship, flipped a few switches, getting the engines ready for takeoff. “If I don’t get us out of here we all might die!”

“That’s the adrenaline talking,” Alyssa snapped.

_ “Greg made it!”  _ Kevin’s voice sounded in her ear.  _ “Go!” _

“Is this your first space chase, Alyssa?” Emma asked casually as she slowly eased the ship off the ground. “You’d better buckle up or hold on tight.”

She looked pointedly at Alyssa until she reluctantly sat herself in the copilot’s seat, still glaring at Emma. Then, Emma pulled the ship forward at breakneck speeds. Alyssa gasped and had a white-knuckled grip on the armrests.

“Did anyone get a look at their ships?” Emma asked into her comms as the Beatrice shot up in the sky.

_ “I spotted some standard military issue CS Falcons in the port,”  _ Nick answered.  _ “Might be theirs.” _

“Shit,” Emma muttered. “Those guys are fast. I’ll try and gain us some ground before they catch up.”

Emma pressed forward, pushing the limits of how fast this old ship could fly. They left the planet’s atmosphere and drifted out into the abyss of space. As they grew closer to the asteroid belt, the radar screen beeped again showing four different ships coming into range, gaining on them fast.

“Damn it,” Emma muttered. “Let’s try to lose ‘em in here.” And she pulled forward into the thickest part of the asteroid belt at top speed.

Emma swerved in and out between giant hunks of rock. She was moving pretty smooth at first, but dinged the side of the ship against another rock. Emma winced, but it was fine; they could fix that later.

“Holy shit, Emma!” Alyssa gasped. “You’re gonna get us killed!”

“If they catch up with us we’re dead anyway!” Suddenly, the ship jolted and there was a loud BANG! “What the hell was that?!”

_ “They’re shooting at us, Captain,”  _ Kaylee explained.

“Fuck. Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse.”

Emma swerved around another asteroid, making a sharp U-turn to peel back in the opposite direction. Alyssa squealed, almost falling out of her seat. As they looped around, they caught sight of one of the ships failing to make the turn and slamming into the side of the asteroid, disappearing in a fiery explosion.

“Nice,” Emma muttered to herself. Another BANG hit the ship, and some of the overhead lights shorted out before flickering back on. “Not nice.”

“Can’t you shoot back at them?” Alyssa asked.

“This is a merchant ship, not a fighter craft!” Emma exclaimed. “We don’t have any firepower!” She maneuvered the ship in a quick zig zag between two asteroids that were crossing paths, scraping the other side of the ship against the rocky surface. She was going to need a lot of repairs later. The fighter crafts tailing them maneuvered through with ease and continued shooting and gaining on them.

“I thought you guys got into shit like this all the time!” Alyssa defended. “I just assumed Kaylee had tricked her out with something or—“

“That’s it! Alyssa, you’re a genius!” Emma spoke into her comm again. “Klein! Did you ever get that booster working?”

_ “What booster?” _ Kaylee’s voice came in.

“The one you were tinkering with that shut off all the lights.”

_ “Oh! Yes, I was able that drive rewired correctly, bypassing the acceleration module and also connected it to some heat so theoretically we should get a significant boost.” _

“Theoretically?” Emma dodged a chunk of asteroid that flew directly at them, pulling the ship into a gut wrenching dive.

_ “I haven’t tested it yet, but I’m like seventy percent sure it’ll work,”  _ Kaylee explained, then after a brief pause she added,  _ “Maybe sixty-eight percent sure.” _

Emma groaned as she quickly swerved out of the way of a line of gunfire from the ships behind them. “Okay, so what happens if it doesn’t work?”

_ “Either the engine will blow, killing us all, or it’ll just short out and leave us sitting in the black until we’re caught and arrested, torn apart by asteroids, or run out of oxygen. Whichever comes first.” _

Emma sighed, puffing out her cheeks, as she weighed her options. Another blast hit the ship and sparks flew from a part of the dashboard. “Well,” she started. “I guess there’s no time like the present to test it out. Fire her up.”

_ “Yes, captain.” _

Alyssa smacked Emma on the arm. “Are you crazy?! You could get us all killed!”

Emma frowned at her. “I’m trying to save all our asses. Betsy wasn’t built for a high speed chase with ships much faster than her. It’s our best shot.”

“But—“

“Look, Alyssa, sometimes I have to make tough calls like this,” Emma interrupted. She kept her gaze firmly ahead of her, not wanting to see what Alyssa was thinking, not wanting to disappoint her. “I’m sorry.”

_ “Everybody hold onto something!” _ Kaylee called out.

A split second later, the ship violently lurched forward, then everything became oddly still and calm. Emma looked out the front window to see the space around them passing by in a blur. The asteroids were gone; they were somehow already long past the Boann Belt. Emma glanced down at the location readings, but it flashed with an error message.

“Holy shit,” Emma muttered. She stood from her seat and stepped up to the large glass window in front of her. Alyssa followed and they both looked out as they sped through the vastness of space.

_ “It worked!”  _ Kaylee exclaimed.

“Kaylee, you’re a genius,” Emma mused. “I think you just saved all of us.”

_ “Uh-oh.” _

Emma frowned. “Uh-oh?” she asked. “Please tell me that was a good uh-oh and not a bad uh-oh.”

“Is there such a thing as a good uh-oh?” Alyssa mumbled next to her.

Suddenly, the lights flickered again and a siren wailed throughout the ship. “What the hell is that?” Emma asked as she rushed over to the readings panel.

_ “Cap, I can’t get it to stop.” _

“What?”

_ “It won’t stop. The engines are overheating.” _

The engine status screen flashed red with the word ‘CAUTION’. The temperature was four hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and steadily climbing.

“Are you saying she’s gonna blow?” Emma asked in a panic.

_ “Maybe?” _

“Damn it, Kaylee, can you fix it?”

_ “You think I’m not trying?!” _

Emma glanced down at the screen again. The temperature was well past five hundred Fahrenheit and still flashing. Sparks flew on the control panel and the lights flickered again.

Alyssa wasn’t looking at the flickering lights or the sparks flying or the error messages or the lights. Her eyes were fixed ahead of her into the black as they sped through the universe in a blur. She appeared calm, but Emma could tell she was just masking the fear behind her eyes.

“Alyssa, I— I’m sorry,” Emma muttered. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not with you here. I—“

“Hey, this isn’t your fault,” Alyssa interrupted. She tore her eyes away from the window and stepped up to Emma. Her hands were on Emma’s arms, holding her in reassurance. “I wanted to be a part of this. I knew what I was getting into and I…” She hesitated a moment, briefly glancing down before meeting Emma’s eyes again. “I wouldn’t change a second of it.”

The beeping suddenly grew more intense. Another glance at the screen now showed the words ‘TEMPERATURE CRITICAL’ flashing across it.

Emma had gotten herself into a lot of scrapes in her life, but for the first time, she couldn’t see a way out of it. They were going to die here, in the middle of space. And it was her fault for getting them into this mess in the first place.

Alyssa squeezed her arms gently, dragging Emma out of her own head. Alyssa always looked at her with a reverence she couldn’t quite place and definitely didn’t understand, but it sparked something inside Emma, something that was getting harder to quell.

Then, Emma made one of the only decisions she had ever made in her life without even thinking about it. She surged forward and her hands found Alyssa’s cheeks, pulling her in for a fierce kiss.

Alyssa immediately responded; it was desperate and intense. Alyssa stumbled backwards as Emma pressed forward, taking everything she was willing to give. Alyssa’s back hit the wall and her hands gripped the collar of Emma’s shirt, tugging as she tilted her head and opened her mouth, drawing her in.

Alyssa’s lips were hot and firm and Emma’s head was swirling with fog. She forgot about the authorities chasing them, forgot about the ship's engine about to blow, forgot about what they were leaving behind. All that existed in the moment were Alyssa’s insistent lips, Alyssa’s desperate hands, were Alyssa’s body pressed against her own.

Emma was prepared to die blissfully unaware of anything but Alyssa.

But moments passed, and they were still kissing.

Emma thought she heard something and slowly, reluctantly pulled away from Alyssa’s lips. Her eyes fluttered open and god, the sight of Alyssa Greene in front of her, eyes dark as she gazed up at Emma, kiss swollen lips, a dazed expression on her face, was more than Emma’s heart could handle. She drew back and looked around the cockpit.

The sirens had stopped wailing throughout the ship. Outside the window, the stars were no longer a blur and it looked like they were moving at a normal speed.

_ “Hellooo? Captain?” _

Emma quickly jumped away from Alyssa. “Kaylee?” Her voice was an octave higher than usual, so she cleared her throat. “What happened?”

_ “I fixed it, obviously,”  _ Kaylee said in a sing-song voice. _ “Because I’m a genius.” _

“I mean—you were—how?” Emma sputtered. She noticed Alyssa push off from where she leaned against the wall, eyes cast to the floor, a small smile on her lips. Emma’s cheeks flushed as she suddenly remembered kissing her. She cleared her throat again and looked away.

_ “I broke the coolant to lower the temperature and buy some time and then I figured I could bypass the safety lock and trigger the auto reset module which— well, normally it would be really dangerous to do a hard reset in the middle of traveling, but I figured considering the circumstances—“ _

“Kaylee, long story short. Are we good?”

_ “Well, she’s gonna need some repairs when we stop, but for now we’re good.” _

Emma let out a breath of relief and collapsed onto the arm rest of the captain’s chair. “Thank you.”

She looked over to the ship’s panels again to see the temperature had evened out to something much more sustainable. She swiped through a few screens to get a reading on where they had ended up.

“Holy shit,” Emma muttered.

“What is it?” Alyssa asked. She was suddenly a lot closer to Emma than she had been a moment ago, standing right at her side, looking over her shoulder at the readings on the screen.

It took a second for Emma to remember how to breathe with Alyssa’s face right next to her own. All she could think about was how soft Alyssa’s lips were and how much she wanted to kiss her again. She swallowed, gaze trailing up the column of Alyssa’s neck until she met her eyes.

“Um,” she mumbled, “Kaylee’s little trick got us halfway to the Aztalan System. Should only be a few more days’ travel.”

“Wow,” Alyssa breathed.

Emma glanced up at the same time Alyssa looked to her. There was a moment where neither of them said or did anything, but the unspoken longing drew them back together, and Emma would be a fool not to give in. She leaned in, but when the whir of the door to the cockpit opening sounded, she took a quick step back.

Greg rushed inside. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah,” Emma squeaked. “Yeah, fine.”

Greg took one look at her and frowned. “Fine?” he scoffed. “Emma, you’re bleeding!”

Emma glanced down at her shoulder to see red blood seeping through the fabric of her coat. “Shit,” she muttered. “Forgot about that.”

Greg rolled his eyes. “I’ve got the controls,” he said, brushing past them to sit in the pilot’s seat.

Alyssa’s expression shifted. “Come here.” Her voice was soft as she grabbed Emma by the arms and gently started to lead her out of the room. “Let’s get you fixed up.”

The adrenaline was suddenly wearing off. Emma was exhausted, so she just nodded and allowed Alyssa to lead her out of the cockpit, through the ship, back toward her bedroom. Emma stood dumbly in place while Alyssa disappeared. She returned a few minutes later with a bag of medical supplies, which she set on the bed.

Alyssa grabbed the stool by her desk and dragged it over toward the bed.

“Sit,” she muttered, gently pushing Emma down to sit on the stool. “Take this off.” She helped Emma ease the coat over her shoulders.

While Emma had been too numb from the cold and too amped up on adrenaline before to even feel the gunshot wound, her shoulder suddenly throbbed in pain as she tried to pull her arm through the sleeve. “Fuck,” she groaned.

“Hey, easy,” Alyssa whispered. She stood behind and her hands were gentle on Emma’s shoulder, keeping it still as she slowly dragged the sleeve the rest of the way down and tossed the coat to the corner. “Can you do that with your shirt too, or do you want me to just cut it off?”

Emma frowned. “I like this shirt.”

“Em, there’s already a bullet hole in it.”

“Fine,” she sighed. Emma heard a rummaging behind her, then a few snips, and then Alyssa was peeling the blood-caked button-up and undershirt off her body, leaving her in just her bra. “This need to go too?”

She couldn’t see Alyssa, but she could hear the amusement in her voice. “You can keep that on for now.”

There was a bit more rummaging, and the next time Alyssa’s hands were on her, they felt cold and rubbery. She had put on gloves.

Alyssa was quiet as she inspected the injury. “Okay,” she started, “it looks like the bullet is lodged in here. I have to get it out. This is going to hurt a little.”

“A little?”

“Okay, a lot.”

“Wait,” Emma grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “Can you grab something from the bottom drawer of my desk?”

“What is it?”

“Scotch.”

“Emma,” Alyssa started, the annoyance apparent in her voice. “Alcohol is a blood thinner.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’ll make you bleed more. You’ve already lost a lot of blood. No scotch.”

“Well I need something for the pain,” Emma grumbled.

“I have this numbing cream,” Alyssa said. Emma gasped as she suddenly felt a cool substance being slathered on her shoulder. “It’s not perfect, but it’ll ease the pain a little bit.”

“Fine.” Emma hissed as Alyssa applied the icy cream, but soon enough the pain around her injury felt a little less intense, and there was a slight tingling sensation on her skin.

“You ready?” Alyssa asked.

Emma nodded. Then suddenly a searing pain shot through her shoulder. She cried out, squeezing her eyes shut, and gripped the seat of the stool. And a moment later, the pain had eased up again. “What the hell happened to one-two-three?!”

“I’m sorry, are you six years old?”

“Just— a little warning would’ve been nice!”

“Do you want a lollipop? Or I can kiss it better for you?”

_ “Well…” _

“Shut up,” Alyssa chuckled lightly. She dropped the bullet into a napkin and folded it up.

“Hey, I was going to ask for a lollipop.”

“Well, you did great,” Alyssa said, amused. “The bullet is out. God, how did you ever survive without me?”

Emma shrugged, then realized that was a bad idea when pain seared through her shoulder again. “Dumb luck, probably.”

“I’m going to clean this up and then we’ll do stitches, okay?” Emma nodded. A cold cloth touched Emma’s skin and she shivered. “This might sting a little.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Emma brushed off. When Alyssa drew closer to the actual injury, the sting caused Emma to grit her teeth and clench her fists.

Alyssa worked in silence for a few minutes, cleaning up the wound. Eventually, Emma grew numb to the sting of disinfectant. When Alyssa started the stitches, though, it was a whole other story. She grunted in pain and dug her nails into her palm.

“You okay?” Alyssa asked.

“Uh-huh,” Emma squeaked.

Alyssa let out an amused chuckle, then grew quiet, working diligently. Eventually Emma was used to the pain as Alyssa worked, and at least getting stitches didn’t hurt quite as badly as getting shot.

It was a while before Alyssa spoke up again. “You were really brave back there, you know.”

Emma swallowed. What was Alyssa even talking about? Telling Kaylee to use the booster? The kiss? Either way, Emma felt like a coward. Running away because it was the only option. Waiting until she thought they were about to die to kiss her. Emma just shook her head. “No, I—I wasn’t…”

When Alyssa didn’t speak up again, Emma found herself rambling.

“I mean, I trust Kaylee. I figured it would work or that she would find a way to make it work, and she did. It wasn’t about being brave. I didn’t doubt for a second—“

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Alyssa muttered. “Just… going to Nunnos in the first place despite the risk. Not a lot of people would have done that. Half the crew didn’t even want to go.”

Emma didn’t know what to say. Not going had never even been an option in her brain.

“My mother always taught me to look out for myself first and I’m so used to everyone around me doing the same, but not you,” Alyssa mused. Her voice was soft in Emma’s ear. “You put others before yourself every time. Your crew, your grandmother, sick people you’ve never even met. You’re different. It’s nice.”

Emma opened her mouth, but words escaped her. Being captain was usually a thankless job. In fact, she got a lot of shit from her crew about the decisions she made. But Alyssa was here, and Alyssa noticed her. She didn’t think anyone had noticed her like this before. She closed her mouth again and pursed her lips, unable to think of the proper words that Alyssa deserved.

Alyssa continued her work in silence. She didn’t seem annoyed that Emma hadn’t said anything, content to just work.

Eventually, Emma heard a snip as Alyssa finished up the stitches. “There,” she muttered. “All done.” Alyssa took off her gloves and began to clean up. She tossed her gloves and the bloody napkins into the trash and washed her hands at the sink in the bathroom adjacent to Emma’s room. Emma stayed in place until she heard the creak of her bed as Alyssa sat down at the edge of it, and she felt soft fingertips trailing across her back.

“Another scar to add to the collection?” Emma asked.

“Not if I did my job right,” Alyssa assured her. “Remember, no strenuous activity until the stitches come out.”

Emma chuckled. “A little hard to avoid in this line of work.”

Alyssa’s fingertips danced away from the wound she had just stitched up and traced across her skin leaving goosebumps in their path. Her thumb brushed against a scar just between her shoulder blades, another bullet hole that never fully healed.

“What’s this one from?”

Emma’s breath caught in her throat. She knew what Alyssa was talking about, but she hesitated. Emma’s eyes fluttered closed and she let out a long sigh.

“Emma?” Alyssa’s voice was concerned.

Finally, Emma whispered, “You scare me.”

Alyssa was quiet for a moment. “Why?”

Emma shrugged with her good shoulder. “I don’t know. You seem to already have me figured out, but I don’t really mind it… and that scares me.”

“There’s a lot I still don’t know about you, Nolan,” Alyssa said. Her fingertips danced across Emma’s back again, causing a shiver to run down her spine. “Like how you got this scar. Tell me? If you want.”

“I want to,” she whispered. Emma took a deep breath, calming the nerves that surged in her chest, willing herself to relax, to trust, for once in her life. “Stole from the wrong person,” she explained. “He made it clear that was just to send a message and if I fucked with him again I wouldn’t be so lucky.”

Alyssa was quiet, but her fingers skimmed down Emma’s spine to her lower back. Emma knew their destination before they reached it. Alyssa’s fingers traced over a few gashed lines that went down her side to her back and ended at her tailbone.

“And this?” she asked, voice quiet.

“Chased by a guard dog who was a lot better at his job than Leviticus.”

Alyssa’s hands left her back and she grabbed Emma’s seat, slowly spinning her chair so they faced each other. She looked tired, but her eyes were curious and full of concern. She held Emma’s gaze for a moment, before her eyes dipped down her torso.

Normally Emma would feel self-conscious in this position, practically shirtless, a beautiful woman just looking at her, studying her. But Alyssa had a way of both putting her on her toes and making her feel at ease at the exact same time. The way her eyes traced a path down her body didn’t make Emma squirm in discomfort like she thought it might. In fact, she wished Alyssa would never stop looking at her like that.

Alyssa’s hands found their place on Emma’s skin again. Her knuckles brushed against the newer burn scar from when they first met. Alyssa didn’t question it; it was one story she already knew. Instead, they trailed to the gash across her stomach, the biggest and, in Emma’s opinion, ugliest scar that littered her body.

“This?”

Emma hesitated. “I, um… I almost died once.”

It was almost imperceptible, but Emma easily noticed the way Alyssa’s jaw clenched at her words. There was a moment’s pause, but Emma was thankful when Alyssa didn’t press any further. That would be a story for another day.

Instead, her hands trailed further up her body. She used her index finger to trace the small line along Emma’s collarbone. She looked up at Emma, the question in her eyes that she didn’t even have to say out loud.

“Cooking accident,” Emma said quickly.

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at her. Emma just shrugged.

Emma’s breath grew short as Alyssa’s hands came up to cup her cheeks. She licked her lips, studying the slope of Alyssa’s nose, the smooth skin of her cheeks, and the exact shade of gold you could find in her brown eyes. One of Alyssa’s hands moved up and traced the scar across her eyebrow.

“And this?” Alyssa breathed.

Emma hesitated. “Everyone who’s asked about that one has gotten a different story,” she confessed. “Shelby thinks I got it in a bar fight. I told Greg I fell out of a tree when we were kids. Which technically is true, but I just got a broken arm from it, not a scar.”

“So what is the truth?”

Emma let out a slow breath and looked into Alyssa’s eyes again, seeking out that reassurance to continue, the reassurance that Alyssa wasn’t here to judge her or criticize her, but that she just wanted to know about Emma. 

Something about Alyssa made Emma want to tell her everything.

“Um… my dad threw a plate at me when I was ten.”

Alyssa’s eyes softened. She brushed her thumb against the scar again. “You started living with your grandmother when you were ten, right?”

Slowly, Emma nodded. “She took one look at this and made sure I never went back to my parents’ house. Never saw ‘em again.” Emma laughed softly at the old, bitter memory. “They were probably happy to be rid of their good for nothing kid.”

The air in the room grew quiet, and the expression on Alyssa’s face was suddenly unrecognizable. It unsettled Emma down to her bones, made her long for the open eyes from a moment ago. She shared too much, she trusted too much, she let someone in when she shouldn’t have and now it was all going to collapse on top of her once again.

As if sensing the anxiety in Emma’s brain, Alyssa tilted her head and lightly brushed Emma’s cheek with her thumb, a comforting gesture that quickly eased her nerves.

“Emma Nolan, has anyone ever told you how remarkable you are?”

Emma felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her hands tightened on the fabric of Alyssa’s shirt, pulling her in lightly. Emma took a shaky breath, then leaned in and kissed her, gentle and sweet. She let her lips linger, brushing against Alyssa’s softly, before she drew back.

Alyssa’s eyes were still closed when Emma opened her own. It was a moment before they slowly fluttered open, giddy and dazed. Her lips twitched up in a small smile. “What was that for?”

“You’re pretty incredible yourself, Alyssa Greene.”

They watched each other for another tense moment before the magnetism drew them together once again. They both surged forward for another kiss. Emma cupped Alyssa’s cheek, tangled her fingers in hair, and kissed her slow but with the same passion as before, back in the cockpit. It was less desperate, more exploratory, more longing. Emma familiarized herself with the press of Alyssa’s lips, the taste of her mouth, the soft sounds she could draw from the back of her throat.

Emma didn’t have a single thought in her head about responsibility or making decisions. She didn’t know how long they traded kisses, but Emma lost herself in the blissful feeling that clouded her head.

Alyssa’s hands absently traced at the skin of her back, lighting a fire under her skin. Emma pressed forward until Alyssa fell back on the bed. She crawled over Alyssa and leaned in to kiss her again, but her shoulder throbbed in pain.

“Ouch.” Emma sat up again, holding her injured shoulder. Alyssa quickly sat up with her, eyes filled with concern.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Emma said, then leaned in to kiss her again. Her arms snaked around Alyssa’s waist, tugging her closer. “C’mere,” she muttered against Alyssa’s lips.

“Hey,” Alyssa whispered, breathless, as she pushed back gently on Emma’s chest. “Stop, stop. You’ll tear your stitches.”

Emma pouted. “But—“

Alyssa pressed another kiss to Emma’s lips, then began to push her back toward the pillows. “Lie back,” she breathed, trailing kisses down Emma’s neck. “Let me take care of you.”

Emma Nolan wasn’t one to say no to Alyssa Greene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos are super welcome and appreciated! Thanks for reading I love y’all 💛


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